Lagniappe
Gustavo
Coronel: YPFB,
proves Einstein right
Yacimientos
Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos, YPFB,
proves Einstein right
Albert Einstein
said once “madness was the incessant repetition
of the same process, always expecting to obtain a different result”.
He was not thinking of the Bolivian state-owned petroleum company,
YPFB, but he could have been. This company has been created and
recreated four o even five times during the last 80 years. Every
time it collapses the hydrocarbons industry in Bolivia gets a
shot in the arm, the reserves increase, plant and equipment are
renovated and operations become normal and, even, prosperous.
But as soon as the government decides to nationalize this industry
again, in the name of sovereignty, and brings YPFB back to life,
things start to deteriorate once more. In 1968 YPFB employed
4200 people to produce 8000 barrels of oil per day while neighbor
Gulf Oil employed 200 people to produce 33000 barrels per day.
Every minister brought his own people to work in the company.
The profit motive became a bad word since the company had to
have social objective, whatever this means.
The history of nationalizations in Bolivia has been a history
of tragic failures, driven by the stupid notion that only the
State can guarantee national sovereignty. With the arrival of
Evo Morales in the presidency the political stage was set for
the newest chapter of this soap opera. Elected President Morales
arrived in the oilfields with the Bolivian army and accused the
foreign companies of stealing Bolivia’s treasures. Some
of the managers of the private oil companies were even put in
prison and humiliated, as if they were criminals. Morales planted,
once more, the Bolivian flag in the oil and gas fields of the
country. YPFB, the state owned Hydrocarbons Company was reborn,
by the fifth time or so, from its ashes.
A few days ago Evo Morales named the fifth president of YPFB
in two years. He is a politician. In his first speech he said
he would put YPFB back on track, that he would create the new
YPFB. He had arrived at his desk because of the corruption, nepotism,
disarray in the organization, losses of production and hunger
strikes that had characterized the tenure of the previous president,
Mr. Aruquipa. In turn Mr. Aruquipa had replaced Mr. Morales (no
kin to Evo) after a corruption scandal and before Mr. Morales
two other bureaucrats, Mr. Ortiz and Mr. Alvarado, had been in
charge. It does not matter that, according to YPFB’s regulations,
the president would need to have ten years or more of’ experience
in the hydrocarbon industry. Mr. Santos, the new president, has
only seen a drilling rig in photographs but Evo
wanted a man
he could trust in this position.
The new president also said that YPFB needed money, that the
company had no money, that the government had a lot of money,
some $6 billion, in international reserves and that YPFB needed
some of that money. It is paradoxical that an oil company should
be asking the state for money when its reason for existing is
to provide the state with money. YPFB asking Evo for money sounds
like a fraud to me. It is, in fact, a fraud, not only because
it is asking for money but also because it ill be asking for
money tomorrow and the day after. And the reason is simple: they
do not have a management team, they do not have technicians,
they do not have procedures and they have no clear objectives.
The company is what has always been (with some brief bright spots):
a very incompetent outfit, often corrupt, without decent management
or clear sense of direction.
How long will the fifth president of YPFB be there? No one knows,
probably a few months. It does not matter. The next one will
be as inept as this one because what make an organization are
technical competence, professional management, clear strategic
objectives, motivated employees and the profit motive. YPFB has
none of these components and ill never have it, as long as the
likes of Morales are running the country. Petrobras could tell
them how to behave.
Gustavo
Coronel is a 28 years oil industry veteran, a member of the
first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela
(PDVSA), author of several books. At the present Coronel is
Petroleumworld associate editor and advisor on the opinion
and editorial content of the site. Petroleumworld does not
necessarily share these views.
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Petroleumworld News 03/17/08
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