PipeWay was the result of a partnership that was formed in 1986 between the Centro de Pesquisas Leopoldo Américo Miguez de Mello (CENPES), the research center of Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), a multinational energy company that is the largest in South America, and the Centro de Estudos em Telecomunicações (CETUC) of the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio).