End of preview - This article contains approximately 196 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
Back
LatinNews Regional Monitor: Andean Group - 21 November 2018
In brief: Bolivia
* Bolivia’s hydrocarbons minister, Luis Alberto Sánchez, has released a statement revealing that to date the country has invested US$5bn to be able to export natural gas to Argentina. This investment includes infrastructure projects such as the ‘Juana Azurduy’ pipeline and processing plants at Margarita in Tarija department and at Incahuasi in Santa Cruz department. Sánchez said that Bolivia has a contract to supply 3.7trn cubic feet of gas to Argentina until 2026, worth US$26bn. The minister claimed that Bolivia has always fulfilled its contractual obligations despite problems with payment from Argentina at certain times. At the beginning of November, Argentina paid US$156m in back payments, according to Pablo Ramos, president of Bolivia’s central bank (BCB). A recent report from the Instituto Boliviano de Comercio Exterior (IBCE), a local think-tank, showed that 48% of Bolivian gas exports currently go to Argentina, and 52% to Brazil, while total exports were up 23% compared to the same period last year. The update comes at a time when sources in Argentina have said that they want to renegotiate the gas contract with Bolivia due to a drive to increase gas production at Argentina’s ‘Vaca Muerta’ fields.
