Page 9 - LatAmOil Week 40 2022

LatAmOil BOLIVIA LatAmOil

Arce took this step to free up extra volumes of
gas for the national oil company (NOC) YPFB
to export, the news agency noted.
The presidential decree has drawn opposi-
tion from the Bolivian business community,
with some manufacturers expressing concern
that the redirection of gas to the export market
may cause domestic electricity prices to rise.
The Cámara Nacional de Industria de Bolivia
(CNI), a local business association, has said it
will draft an alternative proposal and submit it
to the government, but as of press time no word
was available on the details of this plan.
Bolivia’s government is eager to find ways to
generate additional foreign currency revenue.
The country has done so in the past by exporting
gas to both Brazil and Argentina via cross-bor- Bolivia exports gas to Argentina and Brazil via pipeline (Image: YPFB/Esri)
der pipelines, but as production levels have
declined in recent years, it has been increasingly Malaysia’s Petronas during the Rio Oil & Gas
hard-pressed to meet its commitments to both 2022 conference last week to discuss proposals
of these neighbouring states. In April, it chose to for co-operation in the gas sector. YPFB said in
cut deliveries to Brazil and increase exports to a statement issued after the meeting that Petro-
Argentina when the latter offered a better price. nas was considering upstream exploration pro-
In related news, Armin Dorgathen, the pres- jects in Bolivia, but did not provide any further
ident of YPFB, met with his counterpart from details. ™

BRAZIL
Questions about Brazilian oil sector’s

future persist as voters head for run-off

UNCERTAINTY about the future of Brazil’s
oil policy is set to persist for at least a few more
weeks, as the October 3 presidential election
ended with neither of the two leading candidates
winning a majority of votes, making a run-off
necessary.
According to official election returns, the
incumbent president, Jair Bolsonaro, took
43.2% of all ballots cast, while his challenger
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took 48.4%. Lula’s
higher numbers came as no surprise, as the
leftist candidate (himself a former president)
has consistently outpolled Bolsonaro. However,
the right-leaning incumbent did perform better
than expected, given the extent to which he had
been trailing his opponent during the campaign.
In any event, Bolsonaro and Lula are now The run-off is set for October 30 (Images: Twitter/@LulaOficial, @jairbolsonaro)
headed for a run-off election. As such, their
competing visions for Brazil’s oil industry will refineries, and some of his advisors have report-
also be put to the test. edly suggested that Brasilia either attempt to
If Lula emerges as the victor in the run-off, buy the plants back or ensure government rep-
which has been scheduled for October 30, he is resentation on the boards of newly independent
likely to push for greater state involvement in the refineries.
oil sector and more state control over Petrobras, Additionally, he has talked about expand-
the national oil company (NOC). He has made ing Petrobras’ domestic refining capacity and
clear that he does not favour continuing Petro- decoupling domestic fuel prices from shifts in
bras’ ongoing campaign to privatise most of its currency markets.

Week 40 05•October•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9