Russian gas major Gazprom showed interest on February 14, 2006 to take part in the construction of the giant natural gas pipeline between Venezuela and Argentina, via Brazil.
The topic was discussed during the recent meeting in Venezuela between Gazprom's chief of foreign cooperation department Stanislav Tsigankov and representatives of Venezuela's Energy and Oil Ministry and the state-owned giant Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA). Gazprom and PDVSA agreed to continue talks in March 2006.
The gas pipeline, which will be 9,283 km long, will connect Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela with Buenos Aires, and will cost some $23.3 billion (19.5 billlion euro), according to estimates of Brazilian oil and gas giant Petrobras.
The pipeline is expected to have a capacity to transport 150 cubic metres of natural gas per day, five times higher than the capacity of the pipeline between Bolivia and Brazil, which is currently the largest pipeline in Latin America.
Venezuela's proved natural gas reserves stand at 4.1 trillion cubic metres and the country's oil reserves total some 11.2 billion tonnes.
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest crude oil exporter and a member of the organisation of petroleum exporting countries (OPEC).
Gazprom manages the largest gas pipelines network worldwide.