“With what we are producing now and the likely oil successes we may have, we do count on Brazil as a guaranteed customer, which will allow us to guarantee income stability, regardless of the market we are in,” the minister stressed, without giving further details.

Gallardo was speaking to the Senate, where he explained the importance of clearing the signing of the oil services contract between Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) and Canacol Energy Colombia S.A.S. (Bolivia’s Branch).

Such understanding lays the foundations for the exploration and exploitation works in the Tita Techi area, in Santa Cruz, with an investment of US$100 million.

Legislators requested more data from the minister about Bolivia’s situation after Argentina stopped importing Bolivian fuel, following the inception of its mega-field in Vaca Muerta.

“They no longer require Bolivian gas, because they already have sufficient reserves for the domestic market and, what is more, this field is so large that they are also considering exports(…)”, he explained.

Bolivia and Argentina had agreed on maintaining the supply from the first until the latter concludes the habilitation of pipelines to transport its fuels to homes in northern Argentina.

He indicated that this understanding was reached in September and as of past Monday Bolivia redirected the gas supply to Brazil, one of the nations with the highest growth of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the region.

Bolivia has two types of contracts with Brazil, one with Petrobras and another “short term” one with private companies.

Ied/omr/ro/jpm