Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 23 -- Bolivia's state-controlled oil and gas company Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) and Russia's OAO Gazprom have signed a protocol on cooperative oil and gas projects in the Latin American country, said the Russian news agency Novosti.
While working to boost its presence in Europe, Gazprom is also increasingly looking to Latin American markets (OGJ Online, Oct. 6, 2006). It is discussing cooperation with Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela, which plan a transcontinental gas pipeline that will cross Bolivia.
According to the Bolivian protocol, YPFB and Gazprom will launch a number of joint projects involving gas processing, the construction of gas compressor stations, the production of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and sales of Bolivian gas abroad.
"We are interested in exploration, exploitation, production, refining, commercialization, and of course the industrialization of gas and oil," YPFB quoted Gazprom official Renat Iskahakov as saying during a meeting in La Paz.
New laws enable YPFB to become involved in all aspects of the gas industry.