Enron vows to proceed with Transredes expansion

US-based energy company Enron has no intention of selling its 25% stake in Bolivian hydrocarbons transport company Transredes, an Enron spokesperson told BNamericas. "It's business as usual" for Transredes, Enron spokesperson Keith Micelo said, despite the US company's bankruptcy declaration late last year. Transredes has established new headquarters in Santa Cruz and is negotiating financing with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Andean Development Corporation for a planned southern expansion of its network, he assured. Local press reported that Enron has been looking to exit Transredes for a year. Its partner in the venture, Anglo-Dutch Shell, has the first right of refusal, while Brazil's Petrobras had expressed an interest but then received permission to build its own parallel pipeline. Meanwhile a Bolivian lower house commission has started an investigation into alleged irregularities in contracts signed by Enron and Bolivia's state oil and gas company YPFB, local paper Los Tiempos reported. The commission has 60 days to present its findings. Enron signed a JV contract with YPFB in 1994 for the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline and another in 1997 to take on YPFB's transport unit, which later became Transredes. Enron denies any discrepancies surrounding the contracts and described the investigation as politically motivated.