Bolivia: Oil and Gas Revenue Increases in 2019's First Semester

Bolivia's Hydrocarbon Minister, Luis Alberto Sanchez, revealed Tuesday the rise of oil revenues in the first half of 2019, which reached US$ 1.1 billion

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The income is higher than what was reported last year for the same period when it registred just a little more than US$ 1 billion, Sanchez told local media.

Concerning the current production of gas, he said that it represented 58 million cubic meters per day, and the figure is expected to increase during the coming weeks.

The minister said that Bolivia has gone from being a country that imports liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to one of the largest exporters in the region, as it provides for more than 90 percent of the Paraguayan market, as it also exports to Peru and Argentina.

The nationalization of hydrocarbons in 2006, by President Evo Morales, was profitable to the Bolivian state as 46 billion dollars were invested in public infrastructure and equipment.

The country's hydrocarbons minister also indicated that according to a report released by Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), a Bolivian state-owned oil and gas company, the production of urea (fertilizer) and LGP increased in the first six months of this year, compared to the similar period in 2018.

“The hydrocarbon sector has boosted the national economy since its nationalization and will continue to do so. We face a national challenge which is the internationalizing of YPFB, so that it could be distributed in other countries, which will allow us to generate greater income for Bolivia,” the minister concluded.