05-08-08 Argentina and Venezuela signed agreements for the construction of an LNG receiving terminal in Argentina and for studies into the construction of an oil refinery, an Argentinean government source said.
The deals were signed during a visit by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to Buenos Aires, where he met with his Argentine and Brazilian counterparts, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, respectively.

The LNG terminal, Argentina's first, is expected to cost $ 600 mm to build. Venezuela's state oil company PdVSA is already working with Argentina's Enarsa on the project.
The terminal will have initial capacity of 10 mm cmpd, more than the 8 mm cmpd the country is bringing in this year via a floating LNG terminal. The onshore terminal may be expanded to 20 mm cmpd, helping Argentina meet rising demand for gas in the face of declining domestic production.

Argentina and Venezuela also agreed to study the possible construction of a refinery in Argentina, a $ 1.2 bn project, the government source said. Argentina is suffering worsening shortages of diesel because of limited refining capacity.
Kirchner and Chavez also plan to travel to Bolivia to sign a deal for the construction of a natural gas separation plant, the source said. They plan to meet Bolivian President Evo Morales in Tarija, where the facility to separate liquids from gas Bolivia exports to Argentina will be built, the source said.

Last year, the countries said the separation plant would have a capacity to process 36 to 38 mm cmpd of gas for the production of ethane, butane, propane and natural gasoline, supplying the products to Bolivia and possibly Argentina.