Route 4b Gas Pipeline

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The Route 4b Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline off the Atlantic coast of southeastern Brazil.

Location

The offshore section of the proposed pipeline would run north from the Santos Basin pre-salt fields to to Ilha da Madeira in the Port of Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro state.

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Project Details

• Operator: Rota 4 Participações
• Parent Company: Cosan S.A.
• Proposed capacity: 20 million cubic meters per day, 7.3 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 299 km / 186 miles
• Status: Proposed
• Start Year: 2027

Background

In May 2019 Brazil's Secretary of Oil and Gas of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Márcio Félix, stated that Petrobras was considering building more pipeline networks, to be named Route 4, 5 and 6. The Route 4 project is the oldest of the three, having begun the process of environmental licensing in 2014.

The original version of the pipeline proposed by project developer Cosan, known as the Route 4 or Route 4a gas pipeline, would run from the pre-salt fields of the Santos Basin to Praia Grande and the Cubatão natural gas processing plant in São Paulo state. A second pipeline known as Route 4b would transport natural gas from the Santos pre-salt fields to Ilha da Madeira in the Port of Itaguaí, Rio de Janeiro state.

The Route 4b pipeline would have a diameter of 24 inches and a length of 299 km. Estimated cost for the pipeline's development is R$ 4.85 billion (4.85 billion Brazilian reais). The Route 4b project, if developed, would help create a new hub of economic development for the Baixada Fluminense region of Rio de Janeiro state.

As of November 2021, the Brazilian government's offshore gas infrastructure plan listed the Route 4b pipeline as an active project in the licensing phase.

As of November 2022, it remained unclear which version of the Route 4 pipeline (Route 4a or Route 4b) was more likely to be developed.