Santo Antônio dos Lopes-São Luis Gas Pipeline

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This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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The Santo Antônio dos Lopes-São Luis Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Maranhão state, Brazil.

Location

The pipeline would run from the Parnaíba power station, owned and operated by Eneva SA in Santo Antônio dos Lopes (Maranhão state), to a proposed LNG terminal at the Port of Itaqui near São Luis de Maranhão, Brazil.

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Project Details

• Operator: Eneva SA
• Parent Company: Eneva SA
• Capacity: 7 to 9 million cubic meters per day
• Length: 282 to 300 km
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year:
• Cost: 2 billion to 5.8 billion BRL
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Itaqui LNG terminal
  • Parnaiba power station

Background

The Santo Antônio dos Lopes-São Luis Gas Pipeline is one of several new pipelines proposed in a November 2020 government plan to expand Brazil's natural gas transmission network. Brazil's national energy research agency EPE estimated that the 282-kilometer, 20-inch pipeline would have a development cost of R$ 3.8 billion (3.8 billion Brazilian reais) and the capacity to deliver 7 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to customers in Maranhão state. As of November 2020, environmental licensing for the project was reportedly underway.

As of February 2022, the Brazilian company Eneva was actively contemplating construction of its own pipeline between São Luis de Maranhão and Santo Antônio dos Lopes. According to a company report, Eneva was engaged in preliminary licensing and engineering work for the pipeline, with a final investment decision expected in 2022 or 2023. Eneva's plans called for a pipeline roughly 300 km in length, with an initial capacity of 9 million m³ per day and an estimated investment of R$ 2 billion. As described by Eneva, the pipeline would transport fossil gas from Eneva's proposed 21 million m³ per day Itaqui LNG terminal to new and existing power plants and industrial clients in the São Luis region and in the interior of Maranhão state.

A December 2022 update of the Brazilian government's national gas transport plan continued to list the Santo Antônio dos Lopes-São Luis pipeline as an active project in the licensing phase; the report showed estimated costs for the project increasing from the R$ 3.82 billion figure cited in 2020 to a new figure of R$ 5.821 billion. The version of the pipeline proposed by the Brazilian government would operate in the opposite direction from the pipeline proposed by Eneva, transporting gas north from fields in the Parnaiba basin to customers in the coastal city of São Luis de Maranhão, while also connecting with Eneva's existing Parnaiba power station. The government report also mentioned the possibility of gas for the pipeline being sourced from the Pecém LNG terminal via the proposed Santo Antônio dos Lopes-Caucaia Gas Pipeline.

In April 2023, Eneva's prospects for developing its proposed LNG terminal-plus-pipeline project were boosted by the Brazilian government's approval of a new LNG regasification berth at Itaqui port.

In a May 2024 meeting with government and gas industry officials, Eneva's Executive Director Aurélio Amaral affirmed his company's ongoing interest in developing the Santo Antônio-São Luis pipeline. Eneva's 2023 annual report, released in June 2024, confirmed that Eneva continued to study a pipeline connecting its Parnaíba energy complex in Santo Antônio dos Lopes with an LNG terminal in the São Luis area.