Bolivia demands retail networks, refineries

Bolivia President Evo Morales decreed that Brazil's state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and other private firms within a month must turn over their Bolivian retail networks to state-owned Yacimientos Petroliferas Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).

May 30, 2006

Peter Howard Wertheim
OGJ Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, May 30 -- Bolivia President Evo Morales decreed that Brazil's state-run Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras), Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and other private firms within a month must turn over their Bolivian retail networks to state-owned Yacimientos Petroliferas Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB).

He also demanded that Petrobras, which owns 25% of the country's retail outlets, hand over its 27,250 b/d refinery at Cochabamba and 20,000 b/d refinery at Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

The transfer of the fuel distribution business also hits the companies Copenac, Pisco, Refipet, and Pexim.

On May 29, Morales ordered the removal of all military personnel from Bolivian oil and gas facilities. For 4 weeks, more than 3,000 soldiers have peacefully occupied 56 facilities.

On May 1, Morales nationalized the country's oil and gas industry after issuing a decree that calls for foreign energy companies to sign new operating contracts within 180 days or leave Bolivia (OGJ Online, May 2, 2006).