Bolivia’s beleaguered president announces natural gas discovery, promising a boon for the country

La Paz, Bolivia– Bolivia’s embattled president on Monday announced the discovery of vast natural gas reserves, describing it as the largest find in nearly two decades that could help the cash-strapped country reverse its production decline.

President Luis Arce called the treasury just north of the capital a “megafield,” saying it holds about 1.7 trillion cubic meters of gas at a likely market value of $6.8 billion.

He said the field, called Mayaya X-1, is a way to revive the gas industry. That was the engine of robust growth in the early 2000s, a period of export boom and poverty decline that Experts have described Bolivia as the “economic miracle.”

“This marks the beginning of a new chapter for the northern subandean region, which offers hope of maintaining our country as a major gas exporter,” said Arce, who the alleged target of an attempted military coup last month and the main focus of anger among Bolivians for shortage of fuel and foreign currency. “It is the most important discovery since 2005.”

In more recent years, investment in exploration projects by Bolivia’s state energy company has declined and natural gas extraction has rapidly faded.

Bolivian politicians spent much of the gas windfall on generously subsidized fuel. The pioneering economic model then President Evo Moralesmaple bitter political rivalIt quickly became unsustainable when commodity prices fell.

In a warning to the government, the Bolivian Institute of Foreign Trade reported last year that the country – once among the world’s top 10 natural gas producers – had become a net importer of hydrocarbons, spending $2.9 billion dollars in diesel imports while earning only $2 billion from imports. natural gas exports.

Last month, Arce described production as having “hit rock bottom.”

Bolivia’s state energy company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), said on Monday that the newly announced natural gas field was discovered thanks to a $50 million investment.

The field, he said, covers several regions north of La Paz, the administrative capital, and will add to Bolivia’s existing gas reserves, which amounted to 8.7 trillion cubic meters in 2019. No data has been available since then. publicly.

“It is a new exploratory frontier,” said Armin Dorgathen, president of YPFB.