MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia and Gazprom sign long term gas development deal

Bolivia and Russia signed a long term agreement on investment and cooperation in the area of gas and petroleum research which is estimated could reach 3 billion US dollars, it was announced in La Paz.

The memorandum of understanding was signed by Bolivia's state energy firm YPFB president, Carlos Villegas and the Russian government controlled giant Gazprom's representative in Latin America, Vladimir Kulikov; and deputy director of Vniigaz, Gazprom's scientific research institute, Alexsandr Solomonovich. Under the deal, Vniigaz has agreed to draw up a so-called "general development scheme for Bolivia's gas industry through 2030". Meanwhile, Bolivia's Deputy Hydrocarbons Minister, William Donaire, said that the amount of investment in Bolivia's gas industry pledged by Russian companies, together with French oil major Total could amount to an initial total of 3 billion US dollars. Villegas told reporters that the document will benefit Bolivia and YPFB, now at the centre of a scandal involving the murder of a businessman whose firm is suspected of having bribed the recently ousted head of the state enterprise to win a lucrative contract. "We're sure this is the beginning of long-term work in Bolivia that will benefit Gazprom and YPFB," Villegas said. Bolivian President Evo Morales is scheduled to travel next week to Russia to sign other accords on energy and cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said. It was nearly three years ago that Morales, the first indigenous president of this Indian-majority country, made good on a promise to assert greater state control over Bolivia's estimated 48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The new arrangements involved a sharp increase in the taxes and royalties La Paz levies on large foreign energy firms and a return of state control over smaller operations formerly owned by YPFB, which has struggled to reconstitute itself after being practically dismantled by privatization under Conservative governments in the 1990s.