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Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia sign
treaty to create gas cartel OPEGASUR
BP/WSJ
Gas resourcesBy Elio Ohep
Petroleumworld
CARACAS
Petroleumworld.com 03 13 07
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Argentinian counterpart President Nestor Kirchner agreed last week in forming an organization of natural gas producers based on the oil-exporting cartel, OPEC. On Sunday Chavez and Bolivian president Evo Morales signed a treaty in Bolivia to joint The Organization of Gas Producing and Exporting Countries of South America or OPEGASUR, PDVSA said in a statement.OPEGASUR will seek "gas sovereignty of the peoples of South America, a better valuing of natural resources, the interchange of technology and experiences," and "the industrialization of gas and joint investments in the energy sector," the statement said.
PDVSA said OPEGASUR would be limited at first to Venezuela, Bolivia and Argentina.
Chavez described the idea last week on his regular TV show along with other ambitious plans, such as a South continental gas pipeline and a development bank for South America to finance joint infrastructure and social projects.
Venezuela has the largest natural gas reserves in South America but it has not develop those reserves yet. PDVSA plans to begin exporting at a new LNG plant by 2010.
Venezuela was one of the five original promoters of the Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, or OPEC, in 1960, is the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, and has the largest oil reserves outside the Middle East.
- Elio Ohep, editor@petroleumworld.com, 58 412 996 3730, caracas.
Petroleumworld News 12 03 07
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