MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Abundant rainfall “shrinks” Brazil's Bolivian gas demand

Brazil will temporarily shut down power plants fired by natural gas from Bolivia and will reduce imports of the Bolivian fuel through the end of April, announced Mines and Energy mister Edison Lobao.

The announcement was done when Brazil and Bolivia meet to address the issue of the drop in demand. Bolivia is represented by Ministers Saul Avalos, Carlos Villegas and Hector Arce. The meeting was requested by La Paz, which is concerned over Brazilian state-controlled energy giant Petrobras' January first decision to reduce its imports of natural gas from 31 million cubic meters per day in 2008 to some 19 million cubic meters per day at present. Lobao told reporters that the drop in gas imports will allow Brazil to save close to 600 million US dollars during the four-month period, adding that given the current global economic crisis, the country also is looking ahead to a possible reduction in the price of Bolivian natural gas. Minister Lobao said the country's hydroelectric plants are generating more energy thanks to increased rainfall in recent months and for that reason Brazil no longer needs to keep operating all of its thermoelectric plants, which, because they use gas and diesel as fuel, are more costly and polluting. In 2006, when Brazil relied on Bolivia for most of its natural gas, Bolivian President Evo Morales announced the nationalization of foreign natural gas assets, including those of Brazil's Petrobras. Not only is Brazil the biggest consumer of land-locked Bolivia's gas, but Brazil's state-owned energy company, Petrobras, was the biggest investor in Bolivia's gas fields.