April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Bolivia plans to export natural gas through a new pipeline to Peru's coast after a proposal to export gas via Chile sparked riots that led to the resignation of Bolivia's president last year.

A nationwide referendum on the plan will be held July 18, said Osvaldo Candia, spokesman for the current President, Carlos Mesa. Bolivia decided to ship via Peru because Chile has refused since the 19th century to give the landlocked country access to the coast, Candia said in an interview.

``Peru will give all the support it can to Bolivia for the development of its natural gas project,'' Jaime Quijandria, Peru's Energy and Mines Minister, said in Lima last night at a press conference with Peruvian Foreign Minister Manuel Rodriguez. Officials didn't estimate the project's cost.

Protests in Bolivia against the plan to build a pipeline through Chile left 70 dead and helped force Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada to resign in October. Bolivia lost its only access to the Pacific Ocean after a four-year war with Chile in 1879, and protestors objected to allowing Chile and foreign companies to profit from Bolivia's natural resources.

Bolivia, which has Latin America's second-largest gas reserves after Venezuela, plans to ship some of its gas to the U.S. and Mexico. A pipeline across Peruvian territory would be just as profitable as a route leading through Chile, Quijandria told reporters.

Mesa this week agreed to sell gas to Argentina for a period of six months to help ease Argentina's energy crisis.

Bolivia's Candia said the country would consider commercial agreements with Chile ``only when the issue of access to the sea is resolved.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Inti Landauro at ilandauro@bloomberg.net in Lima

Last Updated: April 15, 2004 14:04 EDT