PDVSA Evaluates Reactivating Pipeline to Export Gas from Venezuela to Colombia

The Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA is evaluating the reactivation of a gas pipeline in the west of the country to export natural gas to Colombia, reported Bloomberg.

The information was provided by Juan Ricardo Ortega, president of Grupo Energía Bogotá SA (GEB), one of the largest electricity companies in Colombia. The 224-kilometers-long Antonio Ricaurte gas pipeline connects Venezuelan gas fields with northeastern Colombia.

Ortega was reportedly approached by an emissary of those who are evaluating the feasibility of the project, who asked him about the possibility of using the GEB gas pipeline network to distribute fuel within Colombia.

The GEB president said that the copany has the necessary infrastructure that could bring that gas to the market and that the company is interested in the project. “There are many activities that could make possible the transition to gas in Colombia if supply is reliable and it has the right price,” he said on Monday, August 1, in an interview.

The reopening of this gas pipeline could signify income for Venezuela in the context of the US and European sanctions against the country as well as a reduction in the risk of gas shortage in Colombia in 2025 or 2026.

This energy transfer would be possible as binational relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been relaunched by Colombian President-elect Gustavo Petro, who is to take charge this Sunday. Moreover, this comes at a time when the US—and to a greater degree Europe—are facing rising prices and scarcity of fuels due to their own coercive measures imposed on Russia.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/EF/SC