Uruguaiana-Porto Alegre Gas Pipeline

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The Uruguaiana-Porto Alegre Gas Pipeline is a natural gas pipeline, partly proposed and partly operational, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Location

The pipeline's proposed route runs from Uruguaiana on the Argentina-Brazil border to the Porto Alegre metropolitan area, passing through the municipalities of Alegrete, Santa Maria and Santa Cruz do Sul. Industrial facilities along the pipeline's route include the Uruguaiana power station, the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex, and the Alberto Pasqualini refinery outside Porto Alegre. Government plans call for the Uruguaiana-Porto Alegre Pipeline to eventually connect with the proposed Vaca Muerta-Brazil pipeline, allowing the importation of natural gas from Argentina's Vaca Muerta region.

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Project Details

• Operator: Transportadora Sulbrasileira de Gás (TSB)
• Parent Company: Petrobras (25%), Ipiranga Produtos de Petróleo SA (25%), Repsol Exploração Brasil Ltda (25%), Total Gas & Power Brazil (25%)
• Capacity:
  • Trecho 1 (Argentine border-Uruguaiana): 2.8 million cubic meters per day
  • Trecho 2 (Uruguaiana-Triunfo): 15 million cubic meters per day
  • Trecho 3 (Triunfo - Canoas): 1.2 million cubic meters per day
• Length: 644 km / 400 miles
  • Trecho 1 (Argentine border-Uruguaiana): 25 km / 15.5 miles
  • Trecho 2 (Uruguaiana-Triunfo): 594 km / 369 miles
  • Trecho 3 (Triunfo - Canoas): 25 km / 15.5 miles
• Status:
  • Trecho 1 (Argentine border-Uruguaiana): Operating
  • Trecho 2 (Uruguaiana-Triunfo): Proposed
  • Trecho 3 (Triunfo - Canoas): Operating
• Start Year:
  • Trecho 1 (Argentine border-Uruguaiana): 2000
  • Trecho 2 (Uruguaiana-Triunfo):
  • Trecho 3 (Triunfo - Canoas): 2000

Background

The Uruguaiana-Porto Alegre Gas Pipeline is a project of Transportadora Sulbrasileira de Gás (TSB). The pipeline project is divided into three segments, as follows:

• Trecho 1 - a 25-kilometer western segment, operating since 2000, that runs from the Uruguay-Argentina border to the natural gas-fired Uruguaiana power station in Uruguaiana, Brazil
• Trecho 3 - a 25-kilometer eastern segment, operating since 2000, that runs from the Triunfo Petrochemical Complex in the outskirts of Porto Alegre to a junction with the Gasbol Gas Pipeline in Canoas
• Trecho 2 - a proposed 594-kilometer segment that would link Trecho 1 with Trecho 3

Recent increases in natural gas production in Argentina's Vaca Muerta region have spurred renewed interest in completing the proposed Uruguaiana-Triunfo section (Trecho 2), which would make the Uruguiana-Porto Alegre pipeline fully operational and allow for the transport of Argentine natural gas into Brazil via the proposed Vaca Muerta-Brazil Pipeline. The Uruguaiana-Triunfo segment is one of several new pipelines proposed in an October 2019 government plan to expand Brazil's natural gas transmission network. According to the report, the 594-kilometer, 24-inch pipeline would have the capacity to deliver 15 million cubic meters of natural gas per day to customers in Rio Grande do Sul state.

It is anticipated that the Trecho 2 segment would cost R$ 4.6 billion (4.6 billion Brazilian reais) to develop, with possible financing from CAF Latin American Development Bank, and would take 18 months to build, with its initial capacity of 15 MMcm/d eventually increasing to 30 MMcm/d. As of November 2020, environmental licensing for the project was underway.

In a February 2022 meeting with Rio Grande do Sul governor Eduardo Leite, Argentina's ambassador to Brazil Daniel Scioli discussed the important role the Uruguaiana-Triunfo section of pipeline could play in exporting fracked gas from Vaca Muerta to Brazil. Scioli referred to the project as the most important bi-national project of all time, while state deputy Frederico Antunes extolled the pipeline's economic benefits to both countries. Argentine economic minister Rodrigo Bardoneschi noted that several Brazilian companies were interested in bringing Argentine gas to Brazil, including pipeline operator TSB, electricity generator Âmbar (operator of the Uruguaiana gas-fired power station), and the Brazilian gas company Compass Gas & Energy.

A December 2022 update of the Brazilian government's national gas transport plan continued to list the Uruguaiana-Triunfo segment as an active project in the licensing phase.

In anticipation of the mid-2023 completion of the first segment of Argentina's Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, the Argentine and Brazilian governments resumed discussions of importing fossil gas from Vaca Muerta, spurring renewed talk of constructing the Uruguaiana-Triunfo segment.

The 10-year energy expansion plan published in 2023 by the Brazilian energy research agency EPE continued to refer to the Uruguaiana-Triunfo segment as an active project, as did a spokesperson for Brazil's Ministry of Mines and Energy in July 2024.