By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 17 -- After extensive negotiations, Argentina and Brazil signed a letter of intent Nov. 3 to finance a $200 million expansion of Argentina pipeline company Transportadora de Gas del Sur SA's (TGS) 3,408 km San Martín natural gas pipeline from the Austral basin in southern Argentina, according to Business News Americas. High gas demand has necessitated the 3 million cu m/day capacity expansion.
The agreement with Brazil came after Argenina's President Néstor Kirchner signed an accord with Bolivia's President Carlos Mesa in October to import 20 million cu m/d of gas beginning in 2006.
Brazil's national development bank BNDES will finance $142 million of the costs, and the TGS pipeline unit of Brazil's state-run oil company Petróleo Brasileiro SA will execute the pipeline expansion. Construction is slated to begin in January, with startup scheduled for July 2005.
