July 27, 2006
Gazprom eyes South American natural gas pipeline

(Associated Press News) - "Russian energy company OAO Gazprom is studying whether to join a huge Venezuela-backed project to build a South American natural gas pipeline, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said.

'Gazprom and its technicians are studying a project for the construction of a gas pipeline from Venezuela to Argentina,' Chávez told Russia's state-run Rossiya television during a visit to Moscow, according to a translation of his remarks.

A Venezuelan government statement said earlier that Gazprom was set to join, but Chávez's remarks indicated the matter was still under discussion.

The proposed 9,000-kilometer (5,600-mile) pipeline, championed by Chávez, aims to link Venezuela's vast natural gas reserves through Brazil to Argentina, with branches extending to Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay (...)

The Venezuelan government, meanwhile, said that Gazprom, as well as Russia's OAO Lukoil, would expand their activities in Venezuela with new oil and natural gas exploration projects.

Gazprom signed an agreement with state oil firm Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. to carry out a one-year study on how to develop Venezuela's natural gas industry, PDVSA said in a statement.

Gazprom has two natural gas exploration and production licenses in Venezuela, where it recently completed seismic studies.

Lukoil is helping Venezuela quantify and certify heavy crude oil deposits in the Orinoco River basin. Chávez told Rossiya TV that extraction of heavy crude in the Orinoco project, begins in early 2007."