VENEZUELA’S state oil firm PDVSA will start construction of a $100-million gas pipeline in June, 2006, to provide a long-term solution to Nueva Esparta state’s electricity shortages, Jose del Carmen Millan, president of the state’s electricity and gas service regulator Megane, said recently. The gas will come from on- and offshore oil and gasfields in eastern Venezuela, including the onshore Yucal Placer field operated by the Ypergas joint venture in northern Guarico state.
French company Total and its partners acquired a 35-year concession for the Yucal gasfield in June, 2001. Total owns 69.5% of the concession: other partners are Spain’s Repsol-YPF (15%), Venezuela’s Inepetrol (10.2%), and Otepi (5.3%). The Nueva Esparta state private utility Seneca normally imports 60MW from the mainland via an underwater cable, but the line is in need of maintenance and operating at less than capacity. Nueva Esparta is home to the tourist haven of Margarita Island, one of the Caribbean’s top destinations, but tourists and residents on the island have had to endure electricity rationing since early August. A recent agreement for state-owned integrated electricity firm Cadafe to install a 150-MW diesel-fired generation project in Margarita is just a temporary solution to a serious problem, according to Millan. “All of this is just to gain some time until the gas pipeline comes to Margarita,” he said. The pipeline “will greatly contribute to solving the problem.”