More Bolivia-Brazil gas line work awarded

Brazil's state oil company has let three contracts totaling about $164 million for laying segments totaling 1,180 km of the Brazilian portion of the $2 billion, 3,186-km Bolivia-Brazil natural gas export pipeline. Last month, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Mines and Energy Minister Raimundo Brito approved contracts Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) signed with domestic and foreign companies, for starting construction on the pipeline leg from Campinas, S?o Paulo state, to

April 6, 1998

3 min read

Last month, Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Mines and Energy Minister Raimundo Brito approved contracts Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) signed with domestic and foreign companies, for starting construction on the pipeline leg from Campinas, S?o Paulo state, to Porto Alegre, capital of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The project is widely considered a cornerstone of efforts to establish an energy grid in the Southern Cone nations of South America (see related story, p. 40).

Contracts

The pipelay contracts were signed between Petrobras and the following:

A combine of Brazil's Tenenge and Spain's Dragados to lay the spreads between Campinas and Ribeirao Branco in Sao Paulo state and Criciuma, Santa Catarina state, and Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, for a total of 503 km and at a contract value of about $71 million.
A group of Ingenieros Construcciones Asociados (Mexico), CPC (Argentina), and Etesco (Brazil) for a 484-km spread under a $58 million contract.
Argentina's Construtora Contreras Hermanos, to lay the 193-km spread between Biguacu and Crisciuma in Santa Catarina state with 193-km under a $35 million contract.

The pipelaying contracts will be completely financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, said government officials.

In all, the Brazilian portion of the pipeline, including costs of line pipe and compressor stations, will require a total investment of $450 million, added government officials.

Project update

Sergio Boccaletti, a Petrobras official and project director of the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline, told OGJ that the route for the 3,150-km pipeline project, of which 747 km are to be built in Bolivia, starts from Rio Grande, Bolivia, and passes through the Bolivian town of Puerto Suarez on the border with Brazil. It then extends to the Brazilian town of Corumba, and crosses the states of Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, up to the city of Campinas, and on to Parana and Santa Catarina states, terminating at Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul state.

"It ought to be concluded up to Guararema (Sao Paulo state) in December of this year and to Porto Alegre by the end of 1999," said Boccaletti.

The pipeline is designed to transport 8 million cu m/day of Bolivian natural gas to southern Brazil. Later, pipeline capacity may be expanded to 16 million cu m/day, depending on market demand.

Boccaletti added that the 1,259-km leg from the northern Brazilian city of Corumba, Mato Grosso do Sul state, to the Paulinea refinery in Sao Paulo state, is now proceeding "at a rapid pace."

This leg of the pipeline is being built by a constortium of Camargo Correa (Brazil), Brown & Root-Murphy (U.S.), Techint Engenharia (Brazil), and Techint Internacional (Argentina).