Latin America Advisor
Energy Advisor
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Does Bolivia Have the Plan it Needs to Produce More Gas?
The Bolivian government is planning for an “aggressive” push into gas exploration this year in an effort to ramp up its gas exports and revive the country’s economy. // File Photo: Bolivian Government.
Bolivian Economy Minister Marcelo Montenegro said the government designed a “very aggressive exploration plan” for gas this year, though details were not disclosed, Reuters reported on Dec. 29. The Andean country is a key gas producer, and subsidies in the sector helped mitigate fuel price hikes and kept inflation to 3 percent in 2022, one of the lowest rates in the world. With few new gas finds and falling exports, how reasonable is the push toward gas exploration? To what extent will it support the country’s deficit and falling reserves? What other policies might help boost the country’s economy?
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Patricia I. Vásquez, global fellow at the Wilson Center: “Bolivia’s natural gas production is almost at capacity. The country needs to rapidly increase exploration in order to stop the steady decline of its natural gas output during the current decade. The government’s announcement that it plans an aggressive natural gas exploration plan is welcomed. From a peak of some 61 million cubic meters per day (mcmpd) of gas in 2015, Bolivia produced roughly 41 mcmpd last year, and without new discoveries, the downward trend will continue. A question comes to mind: Will the government have the necessary financial resources to reverse years of underinvestment on its own? If the answer is no, then Bolivia will need to modify its hydrocarbons legislation to make it more investor-friendly, or at least adopt some kind of tax holiday to attract private investments. Until now, Bolivia’s natural gas reserves and production are the result of…”
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A sister publication of the Inter-American Dialogue’s daily Latin America Advisor, the weekly Energy Advisor captures fresh analysis from business leaders and government officials on the most important developments in oil and gas, biofuels, the power sector, renewables, new technologies, and the policy debates shaping the future of energy in the Western Hemisphere and beyond. To subscribe or for more information, contact Erik Brand, publisher of the Advisor, at ebrand@thedialogue.org.
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