As reduced gas production in Bolivia forces Brazil to look to other suppliers, the potential option for product to come from Argentina’s booming shale region Dead cow through the Paraguayan Chaco is gaining ground, he said Rodrigo Maluffvice minister of investments of Paraguay.
Investments
The project would involve an estimated investment of between 1,200 and 1,500 million dollars, partly from the private sector. Officials and companies from Argentina and Brazil have also engaged in talks with Bolivia since last year on what they believe could be the most fast and cheap to transport gas from Vaca Muerta in the north of the regionwhich would imply reversing the flow of the Bolivian gas pipeline.
In recent months, Paraguayan officials courted investors in Sao Paulomet with Brazil’s energy minister in Asunción and Argentine officials.
As reported -, Tecpetrolwhich controls about 15% of Argentina’s shale gas production, was part of these latest talks, as was PluspetrolMaluff said. The companies did not respond to a request for comment.
Paraguayan officials said the pipeline’s initial daily capacity is projected at 15 million cubic meters in the first stage.
Alexandre SilveiraBrazilian Minister of Mines and Energy who traveled to Asunción in April, told Reuters he was aware of Paraguay’s intention and expressed his support, but noted that more studies were needed. “We agreed to arrange another meeting with the private sector to better study the feasibility,” he said.
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The Paraguay project
Shared plans show that The new gas pipeline would run 110 kilometers from Campos Durán in northern Argentina to the border with Paraguayacross another 530 kilometers of arid, flat land in the Paraguayan Chaco to reach Brazil.
Another 400 kilometers of pipeline would connect Carmelo Peralta on the Paraguayan-Brazilian border to Matto Grosso do Sul and from there potentially join the existing Gasbol line to Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city.
The governments of Bolivia and Argentina did not respond to requests for comment. Bolivia has for years been a key supplier of gas to Brazil and Argentina, but its declining production and the potential growth of the Vaca Muerta shale region are about to change the dynamics of energy flow.
An alternative
Silveira affirmed that the two proposals are not exclusive: The Paraguay option would help Brazil supply energy to its Tres Lagoas fertilizer plant in Mato Grosso do Sulhe added.
Brazil has made clear that Argentine gas from Vaca Muerta – the world’s second largest shale gas formation and fourth largest shale oil formation – will be needed to balance supplies due to Bolivia’s declining gas production.
“Brazil represents the demand,” said energy expert Victorio Oxilia, a professor at the National University of Asunción. “Without the Brazilian market it cannot be done, that is why the attitude that Brazil takes in relation to the project is fundamental.”
