Brazil's state-owned oil and gas giant Petrobras will invest 4.4 billion U.S. dollars in the expansion of its natural gas pipeline network by 2011 and another 380 million dollars in the maintenance, the company announced on Tuesday.

The company planned to invest 22.1 billion dollars in energy field in the next five years.

Petrobras said the investments will make natural gas supply more flexible and reliable.

One of Petrobras pipeline projects is to establish the Coari-Manaus pipe, which will take natural gas from oil and gas production centers in the Amazon rainforest to Manaus, a city of northwest Brazil and other towns.

Since Bolivia decided to nationalize its natural gas production and threatened to raise the price, Petrobras has intensified its investments in Brazil's natural gas production in the basins of Santos, in Sao Paulo state, Campos, in Rio de Janeiro state and in Espirito Santo state.

Source: Xinhua