Date set for Venezuela-Colombia pipeline

Date set for Venezuela-Colombia pipeline

	Published : Mon, 16 Apr 2007 03:11 By : Agencies Print this Story

PORLAMAR, Venezuela (AP) - Construction of a natural gas pipeline between Colombia and Venezuela will be finished by August, Venezuela's energy minister said Sunday.

The pipeline is to carry natural gas from Colombia to Venezuela during an initial period of seven years, and after that it is expected to carry gas from Venezuela's vast, largely untapped reserves to Colombia, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez said in a statement.

Ramirez said Venezuela and Colombia will sign a natural gas supply contract during a two-day energy summit starting Monday on Venezuela's Margarita Island.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe agreed in 2005 to build the 230-kilometer (145-mile) pipeline from Colombia's La Guajira gas fields to Venezuela's Paraguana refining complex -- the country's largest -- that requires large amounts of natural gas for petroleum refining.

Ramirez said the natural gas pipeline between Colombia and Venezuela will help advance plans for a proposed South American gas pipeline that would run for about 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) from Venezuela's huge gas reserves to Brazil, Argentina and other countries.

That pipeline, proposed by Chavez, is estimated to cost some US$20 billion (euro15 billion). Critics express doubts about the project's feasibility, and environmentalists also warn that building the pipeline through Brazil's Amazon jungles could be environmentally hazardous.

Chavez has promoted the South American gas pipeline as a project aimed at furthering regional integration.

Ramirez also said there is support in the region for Chavez's proposal to form a natural gas alliance modeled after the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and said Peru may join that group.

During this week's energy summit, Chavez will be hosting leaders from across the region, including the presidents of Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Bolivia.