ICO Pipeline to Start Operations in Dec. PDVSA Boss: ICO Natgas Pipeline to Start Operations in December
Business News Americas (BNamericas.com) Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Venezuela's Interconexión Occidente natural gas pipeline (ICO) will start operations in December this year, state oil firm PDVSA president and energy and oil minister Rafael Ramírez told reporters on Tuesday.
The 320km ICO ended up costing US$600mn, Ramírez said. Initial estimates issued in 2004 gave the project a price tag of US$470mn.
ICO will connect the rich natural gas deposits in Falcón state with the maturing oil fields and refineries that desperately need gas in the rest of the country, including Zulia state, home to PDVSA's western division.
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"The ICO should see the first molecules of natural gas in western [Venezuela] by December of this year. Construction is ready. We have opened the possibility of exploiting gas in the Vela de Coro [a section of Falcón state] to supply the western [region] with gas and solve the tremendous problem we have there," said Ramírez. "We really fought hard for that pipeline to connect eastern and western Venezuela".
To keep crude production apace, PDVSA has said it is essential that natural gas be injected in the older oil fields. Current natural gas production of 1.5 billion cubic meters a day needs to be doubled, according to the company.
Natural gas has become an integral part of the new energy policy promoted by President Hugo Chávez. Some refineries and petrochemicals facilities in Venezuela still consider the gas a cumbersome byproduct.
With about 150 trillion cubic feet, Venezuela is among the top 10 countries in terms of natural gas reserves.
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