TBG owns and operates the Brazilian section of the Bolivia-Brazil Gas Pipeline (GASBOL), which is a nearly 2.600km natural gas pipeline system
EIG's US-based chief executive, Blair Thomas, said that as part of a broader shift to Brazil's growing natural gas industry, it wants to bid for a 51% stake in the pipeline owned by Brazil's state oil company. Petrobras. Petrobras puts its entire stake in the Brazil-Bolivia and TSB gas pipelines up for sale
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He said antitrust issues blocking a bid by EIG for a stake in Petrobras are resolved by the sale for an undisclosed amount of EIG's 27,5% stake in the Brazilian portion of a pipeline known as Gasbol, which connects Bolivian reserves to the Brazil.
“It's about freeing us up for a broader strategy,” Thomas said in a video conference interview.
He said EIG, which manages funds focused on energy assets, aims to create a private sector alternative to process and transport gas from major oil companies as Brazil develops the biggest pre-salt offshore discoveries.
EIG is ready to spend billions to join partners in acquiring pipelines, processing plants and eventually natural gas production in Brazil, Thomas said, as supply and demand for the fuel grow in the nation's largest economy. Latin America.
“We believe in the energy transition and natural gas has a key role to play in that,” said Thomas.
EIG's bet on Brazil comes as Petrobras accelerates asset sales, ending what was almost a state monopoly on natural gas five years ago.
He said the EIG is also investigating Petrobras' medium-term offshore oil fields producing 150.000 to 200.000 barrels a day, including legacy Albacora and Marlim fields.
Leaving Bolivia
Gasbol connects the natural gas reserves in the Andean country to Brazil through two different entities: Gas TransBoliviano SA (GTB), which owns and manages the Bolivian section, and Transportadora Brasileira Bolivia Gasoduto-Brasil SA (TBG), its counterpart for Brazil.
The EIG fund that holds the investment in the Brazil-Bolivia gas pipeline will be closed, Thomas said. The Bolivian side of the 2.600-kilometer pipeline, in which EIG has a 38% stake, will eventually be sold as well, he said, without elaborating.
Brazil has been importing most of its natural gas from Bolivia in recent decades. But new oil and gas discoveries are slowly easing that dependence and could turn Brazil into a gas exporter someday, Thomas said.
EIG also invested in Gas Natural Açu (GNA), an operating LNG, natural gas terminal and power hub with 6,4GW of gas power under development at the Port of Açu.
