Brazil-Bolivia gas talks suspended

Pipeline contract deadline looms as Brazil increasingly turns to LNG

Political disarray in Bolivia, resulting in the exile of President Evo Morales, has delayed renewal negotiations on a Bolivia-to-Brazil gas import contract set to expire at the end of December. Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras and its Bolivian counterpart YPFB signed a deal in 1996 to supply Brazil with 30mn m³/d via the TBG pipeline. Contract negotiations had been planned after Bolivia’s October national elections to allow other Brazilian companies to tender for potential spare capacity in TBG. “Brazil has informed Bolivia that it will be taking half the volumes agreed for in the past,” says Enrique Barrios, partner at Bolivian law firm Guevara & Gutierrez. “The remaining 50pc is up-for-g