Argentina’s Debt to Bolivia for Gas Purchases Falls to $202 Million

LA PAZ – Argentina’s debt to Bolivia for gas purchases has fallen to $202 million and will be completely paid off in the first three months of this year, Guillermo Acha, CEO of state-owned oil company YPFB, said on Wednesday.

Acha told state radio that he met with Argentine officials on Tuesday in Buenos Aires to discuss the debt.

“Enarsa (state-owned oil company Energia Argentina) will be honoring its debt by March, the $202 million left as the balance,” Acha said.

Argentina made a deposit on Tuesday to complete a total payment of $100 million, allowing the debt of $300 million calculated in December to be reduced by one-third, Acha said.

Argentine Energy and Mines Minister Juan Jose Aranguren and Enarsa CEO Hugo Balboa also expressed “their total interest in continuing to work in the closest and most coordinated manner, operationally and commercially,” the YPFB chief said.

Bolivia exports about 16 million cubic meters per day of natural gas to Argentina at about $5 per one million BTUs, or about half the price in effect before oil prices collapsed on the international market.

Bolivian National Electric Company CEO Eduardo Paz also participated in the meeting in Buenos Aires.

Last year, officials started negotiating the sale by Bolivia to Argentina of 440 MW of electricity and cooperation in nuclear medicine.

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