Brazilian oil giant Petrobras informed that does not usually comment on the domestic political problems of countries in which it carries out petroleum and natural gas exploration and production operations, and it will therefore refrain from doing so in the Bolivian case.
According to the company, all of its activities in six of Bolivia’s nine states are proceeding normally.
This was the position expressed in Rio de Janeiro by the Press Office of the state enterprise, in reaction to the renunciation request submitted Sunday night, March 6, by the Bolivian President, Carlos Mesa, to the Bolivian National Congress.
Petrobras has been active since 1996 in Bolivia, where it has already invested around US$ 1.6 billion.
The Brazilian state enterprise, which is responsible for 20% of Bolivia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has two refineries, oil and gas pipelines (including the Brazilian section of Gasbol – the Bolivia/Brazil Gas Pipeline), and 90 gasoline stations in that country.
Besides its current daily output of 52 thousand barrels of petroleum and gas equivalent in Bolivian territory, Petrobras possesses reserves there of 158 billion cubic meters of natural gas.
ABr