However, an Argentine government spokesman said the centrepiece of the agreement was a blueprint for building a new pipeline between the two countries.
This will bring on-stream an additional 20m cum/d of gas to be piped into Argentina. That project, which is vital for Argentina’s long-term energy needs, had stalled recently, in part because of uncertainty among private-sector energy companies over their legal situation in Bolivia with Morales’ government nationalizing the country’s gas resources. Additionally, the spokesman said, the two countries agreed to a new price for the current 7.7m cum/d that Argentina receives from Bolivia. The agreement raises the price to $5 per million Btu from its previous $3.20 per million Btu, although this price is only valid to the end of 2006, after which the price for 2007 will be renegotiated, with adjustments foreseen to cover the costs of capacity expansions and the investments needed to boost the supply of gas from Bolivia.
