  |
Argentina, Bolivia presidents to meet June 29 on natural gas
Platts
BUENOS AIRES
Petroleumworld.com 06 14 06
The presidents of Argentina and Bolivia are due to meet June 29 for talks
on closing a long-term natural gas contract, a spokeswoman for Argentina's
Planning Ministry said Tuesday.Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and his Bolivian counterpart, Evo
Morales, will meet in Buenos Aires, she said.Kirchner has said he wants to arrange a contract of up to 30 years for
importing as much as 30 million cubic meters/day of gas, up from a current 7.7
million cu m/d. The deal would require the construction of a $1 million
pipeline to deliver the gas to Argentina.The barrier to closing the deal is pricing. Morales has said he wants to
raise the price for Argentina to $5.50/MMBtu from $3.20/MMBtu. Kirchner
doesn't want to pay more than $5/MMBtu, helping limit any inflationary impact.Argentina needs more gas as growing demand depletes its declining supply.
Gas reserves have been falling since the 2001-02 economic crisis as producers
fail to explore, meaning that demand is outpacing the replacement of reserves.
This has forced the country to restrict gas exports to Brazil, Chile and
Uruguay, and caused shortages at factories.To ease the impact of higher gas prices on its economy, Argentina is
considering passing the added cost to its gas exports. This would hit Chile
hardest as it buys 90% of Argentina?s average 20 million cu m/d gas exports
and relies on it for a third of its power and for factories and
petrochemicals.Argentina produces around 140 million cu m/d of gas and consumes up to
130 million cu m/d of it.As part of a deal for greater gas imports, Argentina plans to help
Bolivia develop its gas industry by extending deliveries to more cities. The
countries, too, plan to install a natural gas liquids plant.For similar news, take a trial to Platts LNG Daily at
http://www.LNGdaily.platts.com.
Platts 06 13 06
Copyright ©2006 Platts. All Rights Reserved.
Your
feedback is important to us!
We invite all our readers to share with us
their views and comments about this article.
Write to editor@petroleumworld.com
Any
question or suggestions, please write to:
editor@petroleumworld.com
Best
Viewed with IE
5.01+
Windows
NT 4.0, '95, '98 and ME +/ 800x600 pixels