MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia finds new oil well, President Arce announces

The finding will help Bolivians have “the dreamed country,” Arce said in his Labor Day message

Bolivian President Luis Arce Catacora Monday announced the discovery of the YOPE-X1 hydrocarbon well in the municipality of Yapacani, in the department of Santa Cruz, it was reported.

During the Labor Day speech, Arce highlighted that in 2020 the Government launched the exploration of the region where the new well was discovered. He also stressed that the finding was a sign of the results of the economic model based on the exploitation and industrialization of the country's natural resources.
“We announce to the Bolivian people that we have discovered the YOPE-X1 well in the municipality of Yapacaní in Santa Cruz as a sign that we continue with the economic model based on the exploitation of our natural resources,” Arce said.

“But not only the exploitation but its own industrialization to become an example country, an industrialized country because Bolivia has everything and what we lack, the Government together with our workers will form so that we have that dreamed country,” he added.

Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) has projected 11 exploratory projects for 2023 in the departments of La Paz, Tarija, Santa Cruz, and Chuquisaca. In exploration alone, the agency plans to invest more than US$ 323 million, while in exploitation the investment would be more than US$ 139 million, and in gas distribution more than US$ 74 million.

”In order to investigate and evaluate the Petaca formation, YPFB recently began drilling the vertical well Yope-X1 (YOP-X1) at a programmed depth of 3,241 meters, with an investment of more than US$ 13 million,” the state oil company said earlier this year.

The project is located in the municipality of Yapacaní, belonging to the Ichilo province of the department of Santa Cruz. The nearby areas include the Yarará field as well as the Víbora, Cascabel, and Boquerón fields, which have confirmed hydrocarbon production in the Petaca and Yantata formations.