A moving forward to Integration (Title)

INTEGRATION. Presidents agree to create two Brazilian-Venezuelan joint ventures and to assign the pipeline’s construction. (Subtitle)

A moving forward to integration.

One of the two joint ventures created will operate a crude oil field in Venezuela and the other one a refinery in Brazil.

Michael Astor | AP

1MANAUS –Brazil and Venezuela agreed to forge ahead with two joint ventures
2between their state-run oil companies and a natural gas pipeline that would
3stretch across the Amazon rainforest. (The Main Idea)

4President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuela's Hugo Chávez on
5Thursday signed a series of accords to speed the projects that had been
6agreed upon earlier but had gotten bogged down in bureaucracy. "With these
7partnerships we are showing that South America can resolve its energy
8problems," Silva said

9Outlining the joint ventures between state oil companies, Chávez said one
10company would operate Carabobo I, an extra-heavy oil field in Venezuela's
11Orinoco Basin. Petróleos de Venezuela SA, PDVSA, will provide 60 percent
12of the capital for the Carabobo project, with the remainder coming from
13Petróleo Brasileiro SA, Petrobras.   (the Main Secondary Idea)

14Lula expressed his commitment to pursuit the approval of Venezuela's
15entrance into Mercosur. Another company would operate an oil refinery in the
16Brazilian state of Pernambuco with 60 percent of the capital coming from
17Petrobras and 40 percent from PDVSA.

18In December 2005, Silva and Chávez laid the refinery's cornerstone but
19cooperation between the two companies stalled and Petrobras recently
20began talking about building it without Venezuelan help.

21Chávez called the projects “the nerve of (South American) integration,"
22adding that they would “shield (Silva) from an energy crisis." Silva also said
23they would soon select a company to develop a project for a natural gas
24pipeline from Venezuela to Brazil's northeast.

25He expressed his willingness to work in order to assure that Brazil's congress
26would ratify Venezuela as a full member of the Southern Cone Common
27Market, or Mercosur.  (the Secondary-Secondary Idea)

28"With these partnerships we are showing that South America can resolve its
29energy problems."

30The two leaders are opponents of U.S.-backed efforts for a Free Trade Area
31of the Americas. But Venezuela's bid to join Mercosur is encountering
32resistance from lawmakers in Brazil who must ratify the expansion. So far,
33Argentina and Uruguay have ratified Venezuela's entry in the group while
34Brazil and Paraguay have not.