Both companies will build an LNG plant, which will be installed in the port of Mejillones.
Chile's state-owned National Copper Corporation (Codelco) and the Franco-Belgian company Suez Energy International will jointly participate in the project to build a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant in the north of the country.
Codelco and Suez will invest 356 million euros (500 million dollars) in the construction of the plant that will be installed in the port of Mejillones, 1.368 kilometers north of Santiago.
In the initiative, for which the company GNL Mejillones SA was created, both companies will share ownership equally.
According to Codelco's CEO, José Pablo Arellano, who explained the new plant at a press conference, it will generate 450 megawatts for the Northern Interconnected System (SING).
"This means ending the risk of energy shortages for northern Chile and reducing electricity generation costs, which have increased in recent months due to the decrease in gas shipments from Argentina," Arellano stressed.
The project is considered key to alleviating energy problems in that area, which is the center of the large copper deposits, Chile's first export product.
In addition to Codelco, the mining companies Escondida, operated by BHP Billiton, Collahuasi and El Abra committed to the purchase of natural gas until September 20012.
The first stage of the project, which is expected to be operational by the end of 2009, includes a dock for unloading LNG from transport ships.
In addition, a floating unit for storing the gas, unloading pipeline systems, and a gas pipeline approximately eight kilometers long, among other aspects
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