Bolivia launches international call for tender to certify its gas reserves

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The contract will be awarded for US$495,000, according to the procurement published on YPFB’s website.

The Bolivian hydrocarbons company set September 20 as the deadline for the presentation and opening of proposals and on October 4 it is expected to award or declare the call “deserted”, if applicable.

In the event that a proposal is accepted, the signing of the contract is scheduled for November 10, according to the procurement.

The call is open to foreign companies and “legally constituted associations” outside the country.

The call for tenders aims to “quantify recoverable technical volumes,” “perform the economic evaluation” and “prepare production forecasts of natural gas and hydrocarbon liquids per field,” the procurement states.

The company awarded the certification of hydrocarbon reserves must present a preliminary report within 90 days after the “issuance of the Order to Proceed by YPFB’s contractor” and the final report must be delivered 140 days after the order is issued.

YPFB justified the need to periodically update the estimate of “proven, probable and potential” reserves due to “production dynamics, development projects and acquisition of new data” in fields in exploratory, development and/or depletion phase.

A 2018 certification report found that Bolivia had 10.7 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of proven natural gas reserves, which were estimated to have a life span of 14.7 years.

The production decline of Bolivian gas fields and the market’s international price scenario have led to discussions in Bolivia about some modifications to hydrocarbon policies.

Some of these measures include adjusting the Hydrocarbons Law in force since 2005, which establishes high tax rates for foreign companies with a greater role for the State.

In late July, YPFB presented a hydrocarbon exploration plan that seeks to attract foreign capital and aims to find some 5 million trillion cubic feet (TCF) with a US$1.4 billion investment.