BP may build local pipeline

PANAMÁ. The U. K. company British Petroleum, BP, is having conversations with Petroterminales de Panama, PTP with the aim of moving oil from the Atlantic coast at Bocas del Toro to the Pacific area in Chiriqui, utilizing an pipeline.

Mauricio Ruiz from BP said that this project is very important for his company, because as the dynamic of the supply and demand around the world changes it is necessary for the company to be able to bring the crude oil from the Pacific side of the world to the big refineries in the West Coast of the United States.

Ruiz said an agreement has been made with PTP to store crude oil in its facilities that will be take from the Pacific area by smaller vessels to be transported gor refining on the U.S. West Coasts.

The company is also thinking about storing natural gas to be later sold to other Latin American countries.