A more interconnected Latin America is an important part of the new Chilean government's strategy to boost the availability of power in the country, energy minister Maximo Pacheco said on Thursday.
The government is pushing forward with talks with Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to create an interconnected electricity grid, a project slated to begin operating in 2020, Pacheco said in a meeting with journalists.
"I don't think it's good for Latin America to have closed grids, to not be interconnected," he said.
In answer to a question as to whether Chile may be looking to build closer energy ties with Peru, now that a long-running dispute over maritime boundaries has been settled, Pacheco said:
"I think that obviously it's interesting for us to follow closely what Peru is doing with its gas development."
Chile has also not ruled out natural gas swaps with Argentina, Pacheco said. Chile previously imported much of its gas from Argentina, but it has increasingly turned to liquefied natural gas imports from outside the region after Argentina drastically cut supplies more than a decade ago.
Boosting LNG imports is a key part of the energy reform plan of President Michelle Bachelet, who took office in March. She needs to balance the demands of the country's crucial power-hungry copper mining industry with public opposition to coal-fired and large-scale hydroelectric energy projects seen by many Chileans as environmentally damaging.
As part of that plan, a new, third LNG terminal will be built in central-southern Chile, she said last month.
The government is expected to make a decision by the end of 2015 on the involvement of state-oil company ENAP in the project, Pacheco said.
"We are going to evaluate with total pragmatism if that project needs state participation or not," he said, adding that the government was eyeing various possibilities in relation to the size and location of the plant.
Source: Reuters
The government is pushing forward with talks with Peru, Ecuador and Colombia to create an interconnected electricity grid, a project slated to begin operating in 2020, Pacheco said in a meeting with journalists.
"I don't think it's good for Latin America to have closed grids, to not be interconnected," he said.
In answer to a question as to whether Chile may be looking to build closer energy ties with Peru, now that a long-running dispute over maritime boundaries has been settled, Pacheco said:
"I think that obviously it's interesting for us to follow closely what Peru is doing with its gas development."
Chile has also not ruled out natural gas swaps with Argentina, Pacheco said. Chile previously imported much of its gas from Argentina, but it has increasingly turned to liquefied natural gas imports from outside the region after Argentina drastically cut supplies more than a decade ago.
Boosting LNG imports is a key part of the energy reform plan of President Michelle Bachelet, who took office in March. She needs to balance the demands of the country's crucial power-hungry copper mining industry with public opposition to coal-fired and large-scale hydroelectric energy projects seen by many Chileans as environmentally damaging.
As part of that plan, a new, third LNG terminal will be built in central-southern Chile, she said last month.
The government is expected to make a decision by the end of 2015 on the involvement of state-oil company ENAP in the project, Pacheco said.
"We are going to evaluate with total pragmatism if that project needs state participation or not," he said, adding that the government was eyeing various possibilities in relation to the size and location of the plant.
Source: Reuters
