Weekly Report - 25 July 2006

BOLIVIA | Petrobrás increases public pressure. In Asunción last week to inaugurate new investments in fuel distribution, Petrobrás president José Sérgio Gabrielli delivered a very public message to Bolivia on the continuing negotiations over the price increases demanded by the Morales administration. He noted that Brazil has at present a contract valid until 2019 to import up to 30m cubic metres per day of natural gas, and is currently importing 24m cmd. 'We don't expect,' he said, 'to have to import any additional gas from Bolivia; the 30m cmd we have contracted should suffice.' Brazil, he said, is investing in increasing its own production of natural gas from its fields in Espí­rito Santo and the Santos basin in São Paulo state.