IN MID-March, Bolivia and Argentina signed a memorandum on building a pipeline in northern Argentina in a bid to expand natural gas exports from Bolivia. Bolivian energy minister Carlos Villegas told the country’s news agency ABI that the project needs a total of US$1.8 billion from both sides. The daily supply of natural gas from Bolivia to Argentina is expected to increase to 27.7m cum/d from the current 7.7m cum/d when the pipeline is completed in December, 2009.
With its prospected natural gas reserves standing at 48.7 trillion cum, Bolivia is the second-largest producer in Latin America, next to Venezuela. Bolivia currently exports natural gas to Brazil and Argentina, and its gas revenues reached $1.67 billion in 2006, an increase of 28% from the previous year.