(Energy Analytics Institute, Ian Silverman, 24.Aug.2019) — A report by Bolivia’s National Institute of Statistics (INE by its Spanish acronym) published in July 2019 shows that between January and May external demand for Bolivia’s natural gas is down 30.4% compared to the same five-month period in 2018.
Bolivian gas exports to Argentina fell by 33% while gas exports to Brazil fell by 28%, reported local newspaper La Razón.
“Businesses are fine, contracts are fine, exploration is fine, biofuel is fine, but we’ve had problems with gas sales volumes, it’s market dynamics,” the media reported, citing comments from Bolivia’s Vice President Álvaro García made during the II Petrochemical and Green Fuels Forum (2019). “It’s not that we cannot produce, we have capacity to produce 60 million cubic meters [per day], but they demand 48, 50, 52; it’s the only defect,” he said during the event in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
García said Bolivia has to assume a more competitive attitude in relation to other gas suppliers in the region, especially when private actors enter the negotiation scenario.
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© Energy Analytics Institute (EAI)