MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

YPFB adds new Chilean port to boost fuel imports

Gallardo blamed the Legislative Assembly's blocking of foreign credit for the shortage

Bolivia’s state oil company, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), began importing diesel and gasoline through the Chilean port of Mejillones to address a months-long fuel crisis. This new route complements the port of Arica and diversifies imports from four countries, ensuring 100% of market demand is met with 70 million liters of fuel.

Additional measures include reverting the Arica-Oruro pipeline by mid-2025 and activating a port in Mollendo, Peru, by August to optimize transport and reduce reliance on tankers. Coordination with the National Hydrocarbons Agency will expedite distribution, including weekends, to ensure equitable supply across Bolivia’s nine departments. The crisis stems from legislative delays in approving US$ 1.67 billion in foreign financing, prompting the government to invest in refining infrastructure, renewable energy, and diversified energy sources to prevent future shortages.

With the activation of the new port, “100 percent of what the market requires is guaranteed, YPFB President Armin Dorgathen pointed out. The new route means that ”imports are not only from three countries, but from four,“ he added. This, he assured, guarantees ”100 percent of what the market requires“ and facilitates the unloading of 70 million liters of fuel.

According to Hydrocarbons Minister Alejandro Gallardo, among the situations causing the current fuel supply crisis was the ”strangulation of the Legislative Assembly's“ failure to approve external financing worth US$ 1.667 billion. ”We have been 26 months with strangled financing in the Assembly. We are like an airplane flying with only one wing,“ Gallardo lamented at the time. He also admitted alternatives were being sought to diversify energy sources and reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

”We have product, the lines are obviously there, but the important thing is that the product is arriving. As YPFB, we are working hard to guarantee the 100% that President Luis Arce has instructed us to guarantee and to reduce the lines as soon as possible, that is the objective,“ YPFB Marketing Manager Álvaro Tumiri also explained in a TV interview.

Fuels are dispatched from the 22 plants nationwide while additional volumes are being evaluated, ”depending on the arrival of the product from the different import points,“ he added. He also recalled that swells in the Chilean port of Arica prevented ships from unloading high fuel volumes from the Sica Sica Terminal.

”A vacuum has been generated last week, and perhaps days before last week, it is a vacuum that we have to fill, and this will not be solved overnight. It will take time, however, we are dispatching 100%,” Tumiri insisted.

On Tuesday, YPFB's Vice President of Operations, Ariel Montaño, announced that diesel and gasoline from Paraguay, Argentina, Peru, and Chile were being imported to cover domestic demand.