Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela restate gas pipeline intention

Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have again expressed enthusiasm about their planned gas pipeline at a Sao Paulo meeting focusing on the project.

The project was viable and would finance itself, and the presidents of the three South American countries -- Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil, Nestor Kirchner of Argentina, and Hugo Chavez of Venezuela -- were "excited" by feasibility studies, said Celso Amorim, Brazil's foreign minister, on Wednesday at a news conference after meeting.

Amorim said the three countries urged to continue these studies at the meeting, which was also attended by energy experts.

"There was a frank conversation and a great deal of enthusiasm on the part of the three presidents with the technical explanations that showed the gas pipeline project is viable," the minister said.

The countries have also agreed on a modest postponement of the planned project, and the feasibility studies, scheduled to finish in July, were deferred till August.

Amorim said Brazil was to organize a meeting in September, bringing all the countries involved together again.

The project was aimed to unite the countries on the basis of common development, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said at the same news conference.

While it was too early to discuss the exact price of the gas, it was certain to be "very cheap," he added.

The planned pipeline, running from Venezuela through Brazil's Amazon jungle to Argentina, will cost at least 20 billion U.S. dollars.

The project, scheduled to begin in 2009 and to be completed in 2017, is expected to carry 150 million cubic meters of gas daily.

Source: Xinhua