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Venezuela, Colombia agree to build shared gas pipeline
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-11-23 11:02
Venezuela and Colombia have agreed to build a 200 km-long gas pipeline
running from Colombian offshore gas wells to facilities in Venezuela's oil-rich
city of Maracaibo, Venezuelan officials said on Tuesday.
The deal was struck between the two countries' national oil companies
Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Colombia Empresa Colombiana de Petroleo
(Ecopetrol).
Carlos Santiago, Venezuela's ambassador to Bogota, told Venezuela's official
Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) that the two companies would spend 300 million US
dollars on the bi-national project.
The two companies reached the agreement after a series of meetings in Bogota,
and the project was swiftly ratified by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his
Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe, the ambassador said. Chavez and Uribe will
formally launch the project in January.
Santiago said some technical problems remained to be settled but if the first
phase works well, the companies would undertake a second phase to extend the
pipe to some Venezuelan gas wells.
This would occur when Colombian deposits are depleted, most likely in seven
years. The second phase could bring Venezuelan gas to Colombia and central
America.
Ecopetrol asked for help from PDVSA because it lacks the resources to finance
the building of the pipelines by itself. The Andean Development Corporation will
lend some money to pay for pipes and pumping stations.
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