MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

More Bolivian natural gas for Argentina.

Bolivian President Carlos Mesa and his Argentine counterpart, Nestor Kirchner, will meet in the southern Bolivian city of Sucre later this week to sign several bilateral energy agreements including the sale of greater volumes of natural gas.

During a visit to the northern Bolivian province of Pando bordering Brazil, Mr. Mesa said he plans to sign a "contract to sell gas to Argentina, which will be subject to the approval of the Hydrocarbons Law".

"This document guarantees the sale of Bolivian gas to Argentina, increasing the current 6,5 million cubic meters already under contract, of which we're exporting approximately 4 million, up to a daily 26 million cubic meters" revealed Mr. Mesa.

To help alleviate the Argentine energy crisis since last June Bolivia has been exporting some 4 million cubic meters of natural gas to its southern neighbour through an old gas pipeline.

The agreement to be signed with President Kirchner commits Bolivia to supplying Argentina with "an additional 20 million cubic meters" of natural gas per day over the next 20 years, via a pipeline to be built in north-eastern Argentina.

A new 1,000-kilometer pipeline, to be put out to tender in December, will supply the northern Argentine provinces of Salta, Formosa, Chaco, Misiones, Corrientes, Entre Rios and Santa Fe. In return, Argentina has pledged to lend technical assistance on several energy projects.

Techint Argentina and Spain's Repsol YPF, which are among the oil companies that control southern Bolivia's natural gas reserves, the second-largest in South America after Venezuela, have expressed interest in the one billion US dollars project.

The hydrocarbons bill put forward by the Mesa administration last month is the result of the July 18 referendum in which Bolivians voted for an overhaul of energy policy. Among other things the bill sharply increases taxes on foreign energy firms operating in Bolivia and opens the way for retroactive modification of current contracts