The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has approved a public tender for the construction and operation of an 80-kilometer (50-mile) interoceanic gas pipeline along the isthmus.

The project would transport liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from the Panamanian Caribbean coast to the Pacific side for re-export to Asia, a diversification of the canal's energy and logistical activities.

ACP said the LPG would primarily be brought in via terminals along the East Coast of the U.S., shipped to Panama, and shipped on via the planned pipeline. The project, involving the private sector, will ease bottlenecks in canal capacity for some gas carriers. 

ACP Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez indicated that global LPG consumption is increasing at a rapid pace and will double over the next decade, making the pipeline an important route for energy transport.

The announcement came weeks after the ACP formally stated its intentions on the interoceanic LPG transport facilities. 

However, the business intention of the venture has raised issues regarding whether contradictions between foreign involvement and national sovereignty can occur, particularly in light of recent United States President Donald Trump statements that suggest a redo of Panama's government regarding the canal.

The United States built the Panama Canal, a primary artery for global energy trade, and transferred it to Panama in 1999. 

While the ACP, a self-governing public corporation, has sole authority over canal operations as well as the associated projects, the tender for the gas pipeline brings in the factor of international operators managing primary energy infrastructure, making the selection process highly sensitive.

Meanwhile, the ACP has not yet published a complete schedule for the tender process or the shortlisting criteria. 

The pipeline will be the second one along the Isthmus, as a pipeline for crude oil, owned by another company other than the ACP, already exists, running through the canal in the opposite direction.

The latest project serves to underscore the ongoing dilemma of balancing foreign investment with national control in a strategically strategic area.