MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia stops gas sales to Argentina, shifts toward Brazil

The western Brazilian market is a Bolivian gas market, Dorgathen explained

After terminating the supply to Argentina, Bolivia will up its gas pumping towards Brazil according to an agreement between YPFB and Petrobras. Buenos Aires announced it would no longer be needing Bolivian gas since Vaca Muerta, the second-largest reserve in the world and the fourth-largest oil reserve, guarantees the supply for its domestic market.

“As of September 30 or October 1, we began to send larger volumes of gas to Petrobras. This was already in the contract, it is something that was already planned, not just now, but for about two years we have been working on this moment that was going to happen with Argentina,” Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) President Armin Dorgathen said in a TV interview.

Natural gas supplies to Argentina in August and September were made possible by an addendum after a request from the Argentine government. The original contract expired on July 31.

Argentina decided to suspend Bolivian gas imports because for years it began to develop the Vaca Muerta formation.

However, some Bolivian analysts claim that supply to Argentina was halted because “Bolivia does not have gas to sell to Argentina.” But Dorgathen downplayed these allegations. ”Argentina has stopped buying gas from Bolivia because it has a monster: Vaca Muerta, which has an immense amount of TCF (trillion cubic feet), and the capacity to supply natural gas to its domestic market is evident.“

Dorgathen also pointed out that Brazil would pay a higher price for Bolivian gas than Argentina did. He also recalled that the possibility of Vaca Muerta gas reaching Brazil was also under consideration. But Argentina ”set a very high price,“ he explained. ”So, obviously, this is a market, isn't it? So, if Brazil can buy this gas, it will depend on the price that this gas reaches in Brazil, and today, with the minimum export price that the Argentine government has decided to set, it is unfeasible for this gas to reach Brazil,“ he added.

”Even if today Brazil would like to import a greater amount of LNG or what Argentina proposed to be a pipeline through Paraguay or the pipeline through Uruguay, it will reach the same node, it will reach the south of Brazil, the southeast of Brazil. The western Brazilian market is a Bolivian market and the only way to physically reach it is Bolivian gas. So Bolivia will continue to have that market,” Dorgathen also pointed out.