Bolivia increases natural gas shipments to Argentina for winter season

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – State-owned oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) confirmed an increase in natural gas shipments on Sunday to the Argentine market to 14 million cubic meters per day due to the winter season in the southern hemisphere.

The company highlighted in a statement the increase in demand for Bolivian natural gas from Argentina from January to this winter and quoted a message on Twitter from the country’s president, Luis Arce, in this regard.

“We are sending 14 million cubic meters of gas daily to Argentina, given the increase in demand for this energy due to winter. The government of that country approved a decree authorizing a credit of US$200 million for the purchase of Bolivian gas”, wrote the president.

According to YPFB, towards the end of February, natural gas deliveries to Argentina gradually increased to over 11 million cubic meters per day, the volume committed by the Bolivian oil company for the summer period.

According to the press release, from March to May, more than 14 million cubic meters per day of gas were sent, “which is the amount committed by YPFB for the winter period”, according to the press release.

The Bolivian state-owned company explained that the fifth addendum to the contract it has with the public company Integración Energética Argentina Sociedad Anónima (IEASA) establishes two gas delivery periods: the summer period, which runs from January to April and from October to December, and the winter period, between May and September.

The winter period is the one “with the highest demand for Bolivian gas by Argentina”, states the communiqué, in which YPFB also assured that it is complying “in full” with its export commitments in addition to giving priority to domestic consumption of the hydrocarbon.

Natural gas has been Bolivia’s main export product and the mainstay of the Bolivian economy in the last two decades, with its main markets in Argentina and Brazil.

According to the National Statistics Institute (INE) data, hydrocarbon exports brought the country US$677 million between January and April of this year, compared to the $757.9 million registered in the same period of 2020.

In the same report, above hydrocarbons are the areas of the manufacturing industry, with US$1.425 Billion in exports in the first four months of the year, and mining with $853.2 million.