The Gran Gasoducto del Sur (also known as Venezuela-Argentina Gas Line) was a proposed long

natural gas pipeline Pipeline transport is the long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas through a system of pipes—a pipeline—typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countr ...

to connect

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. The overall project cost was expected to be around US$17-23 billion.

History

On 9 December 2005, during an annual meeting of

Mercosur The Southern Common Market, commonly known by Spanish abbreviation Mercosur, and Portuguese Mercosul, is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full members are Arge ...

in Montevideo, the presidents of Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil signed an accord for the construction of the pipeline. In June 2007 Petrobras president Jose Sergio Gabrielli said that the pipeline would not become operational for 20 to 30 years. In July 2007 Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said that interest in building the pipeline had cooled.

Route

The exact route of the pipeline was never defined. It was only disclosed that the first section was to run from

Puerto Ordaz Ciudad Guayana () (in English Guayana City) is a city in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It stretches 40 kilometers along the south bank of the Orinoco river, at the point where it is joined by its main tributary, the Caroní river. The Caroni cros ...

, Venezuela, through Rondônia, Amazonas and Amapá states in Brazil to Marabá,

Pará Pará is a state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest are the borders of Guyana ...

state Brazil. In Manaus, Amazonas State, the pipeline was to be connected to the Urucu–Manaus pipeline and the Urucu-Porto Velho pipeline. From Marabá, a branch line to Fortaleza, Ceará State was foreseen. In Fortaleza the pipeline can be connected to the existing system that extends along the coast to Salvador,

Bahia State Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

to be connected with the GASENE pipeline. The second long section from Marabá was to continue southward to

São Paulo State SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U.S. ...

. From there, the pipeline was to be routed by the section to the border between Rio Grande do Sul State and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and then cross Uruguay to

Technical features

The

- Marabá section was planned to have a diameter and to have 13 compressor stations of 25,000 hp each. The diameter of the Marabá- Fortaleza branch as planned would gradually decrease from to and the branch project involves the installation of five 15,000 hp compression stations. The gas amount received in Fortaleza was planned to be 12.75 billion cubic meter (bcm) of natural gas per annum. The Marabá-

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

section was to be in diameter and to include eight 20,000 hp compression stations. The gas delivered to

was planned to be 15 bcm per annum. The Brazil-Argentina section with capacity of 18 bcm per annum was to include eight 15,000 hp compressor stations.

Financing

The project was to be financed by Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., Development Bank of Latin America, and

Caixa Econômica Federal Caixa Econômica Federal (, ''Federal Savings Bank''), also referred to as Caixa, is a state-owned Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. It is the fourth largest banking institution in Brazil, as well as t ...

with possible participation of other public institutions and private investors.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gran Gasoducto Del Sur Natural gas pipelines in Argentina Natural gas pipelines in Brazil Natural gas pipelines in Venezuela Cancelled energy projects Argentina–Venezuela relations Argentina–Brazil relations Brazil–Venezuela relations