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Bolivia expects Brazil agreement on gas prices in two weeks
By Fred Pals and Matthew Craze
Bloomberg
Amsterdam/Buenos Aires
Petroleumworld.com 11 28 06Bolivia expects to reach an accord on increasing natural gas prices with Brazil next month, ending a seven-month dispute between both countries.
``It could be something like two weeks,'' Energy Minister Carlos Villegas said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands.
Bolivian authorities will meet officials with Brazil's state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA in early December after failing to reach a breakthrough during talks in Santa Cruz, Bolivia last week, Villegas said.
Bolivia's renegotiation of gas prices with Brazil, its biggest consumer, is the key component of a reorganization of its energy industry after the government forced Petrobras and Spain's Repsol-YPF SA to pay more taxes last month.
Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras's press department said no officials were available to comment.
Bolivia expects to receive more than $4 billion a year in government revenue from its gas reserves in three or four years, President Evo Morales said in an interview yesterday. Bolivia has South America's second-largest gas reserves after Venezuela.
Bolivia agreed to quadruple supplies of gas to Argentina for a higher price than its Brazilian contracts, Morales said.
Natural gas prices in Latin America should be the same in all countries, he said. Argentina's President Nestor Kirchner ``extended his hand'' to Bolivia by increasing the price of gas and secondly agreeing to buy more supplies, Morales said. ``We want to see the same action from President Lula,'' he said.
Refineries Compensation
Morales also said he may compensate Petrobras for two refineries it operates in Bolivia as state-owned oil company YPF Bolivianos will take majority control of all the country's gas production facilities.
Petrobras paid $110 million for the refineries, he said. Bolivia's government will carry out an external audit to assess how much Petrobras invested in the refineries since acquiring them, Morales said.
Petrobras is the only oil refiner in Bolivia and provides all of Bolivia's gasoline and aviation fuel and 70 percent of its diesel oil.
Morales also said Venezuela's Petroleos de Venezuela SA, known as PDVSA, may have a role in developing Bolivia's gas industry.
To contact the reporters on this story: Fred Pals in Amsterdam at fpals@bloomberg.net Matthew Craze in Buenos Aires at mcraze@bloomberg.net
Bloomberg
November 26, 2006 23:24 EST
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