Table (34821 bytes) Uruguay has named a group led by CMS Gas Transmission & Storage Co. winner of a concession to develop the first phase of an underground natural gas storage field in southern Uruguay.
The company is the nonutility gas pipeline unit of CMS Energy Corp., Dearborn, Mich.
Uruguayan President Julio Maria Sanguinetti signed a resolution awarding the CMS group exclusive rights to study the feasibility and develop the Santa Lucia gas storage project. Santa Lucia will be located in a water-bearing, porous formation near the Rio de la Plata, which forms Uruguay's border with Argentina to the west.
CMS Energy said the Santa Lucia aquifer could potentially store 40-60 bcf of gas, serving markets in Buenos Aires and Southeast Brazil.
"The Santa Lucia gas storage project has the potential to become an integral piece of the entire South American natural gas infrastructure," said William J. Haener, president of CMS Gas Transmission. "We expect it to become a central exchange point for the continent's natural gas market."
The project will get under way at once with an initial feasibility study, which is to be complete by yearend. The purpose is to determine the best size of the storage project.
CMS Gas Transmission and Gaz de France each hold a 30% interest in the group. Their private industry partners are Novacorp International Inc. of Canada and Techint Cia. Tecnica International SA and Cia. General de Combustibles SA, both of Argentina, with a combined 30%.
Uruguay's Administracion Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland, which awarded the concession in an auction, will be a 10% partner.
CMS Energy's main subsidiary, Consumers Power, owns and operates more than 350 bcf of gas storage capacity in Michigan.
Gaz de France has extensive experience with gas storage in aquifers. It developed an aquifer gas storage project in France, billed as the world's largest.
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