The foreign ministers of Colombia and Venezuela agreed to create a joint venture company to create an oil pipeline from the Orinoco River in Venezuela to the port of Tumaco on Colombia’s Pacific coast.
Colombia’s Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said “this is has been a great dream,” during a press conference after seven hours of meetings with the Venezuelan delegation headed by Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro.
Minister Nicolas Maduro said the oil pipeline will go from the Venezuelan state of Bolivar in the east of the country, to Tumaco, in the southwest Colombian department of Nariño and will be 1,864 miles long.
“What is going to be here is a study and they are going to evaluate, both Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and Ecopetrol the creation of a joint venture company which will take charge of the feasibility studies of the said project in order to forward in this respect,” said Holguin.
During the meetings the two ministers discussed energy, trade, security, infrastructure and social services. Both countries have signed up to other agreements in terms of energy to increase the Venezuelan supply of petroleum on the Colombian side of the border and to extend the sale of gas from Colombia to Venezuela by two years which will expire at the end of 2011.
Maduro and some members of his delegation met with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to prepare for a bilateral meeting between the two presidents in the second half of November.