RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, and China's Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, signed a contract to build part of a natural gas pipeline between southeastern and northeastern Brazil, Petrobras said.
The US$239 million (euro197.62 million) Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract signed on Monday calls for the construction of a stretch from the nation's oil and gas center of Macae in Rio de Janeiro state to Vitoria, the state capital of Espirito Santo, just north of Rio de Janeiro.
From Vitoria, the pipeline is slated to continue north and pass by a gas treatment unit in Cacimbas in Espirito Santo, and from there to Catu, near Salvador, capital of the northeastern state of Bahia.
Construction of the entire 1,365-kilometer-long (846-mile-long) pipeline, dubbed Gasene, has been delayed for months while Petrobras tries to rein in construction costs.
Skyrocketing prices for steel and service providers have nearly doubled the estimated cost to build the entire pipeline to US$2.3 billion (euro1.9 billion), according to Brazilian press reports.
PIN/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
News ID 82981
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