Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Mega-Pipeline Considered Nonviable

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 17 2005 (IPS) - In the short term, the project to build a gas pipeline more than 8,000 km long, from Venezuela through Brazil and ending in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, is financially nonviable, Giuseppe Bacoccoli, of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, told Tierramérica. However, Bacoccoli said it would be made reality in a distant future, when South America would have an extensive network of national pipelines, similar to those in Europe and North America.

According to the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, the natural gas pipeline is an initiative of Brazil's government-run Petrobrás oil company, which refused to comment on details but admitted that it is considering the idea.

This energy integration project is somewhat like the South American “energy ring” proposed by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez at the Mercosur (Southern Common Market) summit held in Asunción, Paraguay, in July.