Petroleum self-sufficiency: In September President Morales inaugurated two new petroleum refineries, one in Cochabamba and the other in Santa Cruz. Constructed with a US$204.5m investment from YPFB, the two plants are due to begin operations in the last quarter of 2015 and are expected to produce an additional 40.8m litres of fuel a month as of 2016. YPFB president Carlos Villegas told reporters that the government currently imports 332m litres of gasoline annually, at a cost of US$195m, but by 2016 Bolivia should be self-sufficient. Villegas added that the Morales government will have invested US$436m in improving Bolivia’s refineries by the end of 2014. They were nationalized in 2007, the year after President Morales first took office.
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