MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia's Morales travels to Russia for energy deal

Bolivian President Evo Morales is scheduled to visit Russia February 16 to sign formal agreements enabling Russia's state-run OAO Gazprom to invest in Bolivia's natural gas industry.

Morales's journey to Russia, which follows a visit by Bolivian Energy Minister Saul Avalos in December, will firm up and complete initiatives begun between the two countries in recent months. Ahead of the president's journey, Bolivian energy ministry officials in La Paz this week met with executives of Gazprom and its subsidiary Vniigaz to discuss investment possibilities and cooperation in establishing an oil and gas research institute. The Russian delegation—Gazprom director for Latin America Vladimir Kulikov and Vniigaz director Alexander Kazak and its training chief Olga Kusnetsova—is preparing agreements on investments Russia will make to support development of Bolivia's gas industry, said Deputy Energy Minister William Donaire. Last December, Avalos—who recently attended the 11-nation meeting in Moscow that approved the charter of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum—said Russia plans to spend 4 million US dollars for a study on development of Bolivia's gas industry. At the time, Avalos appealed for Russian help in developing Bolivia's gas industry and said that Gazprom also could participate in the construction of a new gas pipeline between Bolivia and Argentina. The Argentine section of the pipeline—the Gasoducto del Noreste Argentino (GNEA)—is projected to transport Bolivian gas to the Argentine provinces of Formosa, Chaco, and Santa Fe. In September 2008, Gazprom and Total SA signed an agreement with Bolivia for the joint exploration and production of gas in Acero gas field, a project that may require 4.5 billion US dollars in investment. "The agreement lays a good foundation for further progress of Russian-Bolivian relations both in energy and other fields," said Russian Ambassador to Bolivia Leonid Golubev. "It will also serve as an excellent basis for the preparation of the visit of Bolivia's president to Russia," said Golubev, who added that the agreement was "a breakthrough in economic cooperation, mostly in the sphere of energy." Bolivia's state-owned YPFB will hold a 51% stake in the joint venture, while Gazprom and Total will each own 24.5%. In March 2008, Gazprom signed an agreement with YPFB to explore for gas on the Sunchal, Acero, and Carohuaicho blocks in southeastern Bolivia. The agreement was signed during a visit to Bolivia by a delegation led by Stanislav Tsygankov, head of Gazprom's foreign operations department.