Onyx Generating, an international consortium, has won the contract to build a natural gas fired power plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Reuters reports.

The consortium will build two 450 MW blocks which should enter service in 2000 and 2002.

The consortium comprises Intergen, Shell Generating Ltd. and the Brazilian-based VBC Energia. The project will increase the total electricity supply for the greater Sao Paulo region by ten per cent, Shell claims.

The plant will be operated by EletroPaulo Metropolitana. The new units will be built next to an existing power station.

Fuel for the station will be supplied by the Brazil-Bolivia pipeline project. The $2 billion scheme is due to be completed by December 1998.

Shell is an investor in this pipeline, along with the Brazil oil company Petroleo Brasileiro, Enron and Broken Hill Proprietary Co. Ltd.