The Inter-American Development Bank will support a project for a South American natural gas pipeline, given its vital importance for the region’s integration and competitiveness, IDB President Enrique V. Iglesias said today.
The proposed pipeline would link Peru, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil. Bolivia and Paraguay have expressed interest in taking part in the project, which was announced last week in Lima by Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo.
“This is a great opportunity. We will give it our full support,” Iglesias said after holding a meeting with ministers from countries promoting the pipeline. “This project will be a milestone in the history of South America’s integration.”
The pipeline would connect Peru to the existing network between northern Chile and Argentina, from where the natural gas could eventually reach Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. The project would include the construction or expansion of pipelines in Argentina as well as new infrastructure in Peru and Brazil. A preliminary estimate of the needs that could be covered with Peruvian natural gas would be around 30 million cubic meters a day.
Iglesias said the IDB has a wide range of technical cooperation instruments for environmental impact studies and financial mechanisms to support major infrastructure projects, as well as experience in backing energy projects with private sector sponsors.
Argentine Planning and Infrastructure Minister Julio De Vido, Chilean Economy and Energy Minister Jorge Rodriguez Grossi, Peruvian Economy and Finance Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Uruguayan Industry, Energy and Mining Minister Jorge Lepra took part in the talks. Brazil’s executive director at the IDB, Rogerio Studart, represented his country at the meeting.
Prior to the ministerial discussions, a working group established by officials from the participating South American countries held two days of talks to analyze various technical aspects of the pipeline project.
The working group concluded that it would call on specialists from the IDB and other multilateral agencies for support in drafting an institutional framework for the project as well as to discuss possible ways for its eventual financing. The group also expects to meet with private sector companies to inform them about the project and gauge their interest in participating.