Gazprom may take part in natural gas production on new areas in Bolivia
Bolivia ready to offer portfolio of hydroelectric power engineering projects to Russia, Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy said
LA PAZ, March 6. /TASS/. Gazprom may take part in natural gas production on new areas in Bolivia for its supply to thermal power plants, Bolivia’s Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy Luis Alberto Sanchez said on Sunday.
"We particularly talked about the possibility of broadening exploration and gas production in our country with the help of Gazprom during the visit of Mr. Miller [Gazprom CEO - TASS] to Bolivia. We reached certain understanding that this gas to be produced with Gazprom’s help may be supplied to certain thermal power plants. We will work on that in coming weeks. Development of new areas will make possible to deliver gas to thermal power plants," the minister said.
Bolivia is working with Gazprom on increase of reserves and higher production of hydrocarbons, Sanchez said. If production grows, these resources will be largely exported to neighboring nations, he added.
"Certainly, global prices affected our industry, especially since we are exporting gas. However, we try to export processing products such as liquefied petroleum gas now instead of pure natural gas. We will start exporting liquefied natural gas in coming weeks and will begin exporting fertilizers and plastics in next months," the minister said.
Hydroelectric power engineering projects
Bolivia ready to offer a vast portfolio of possible hydroelectric power engineering projects to Russian companies, Luiz Alberto Sanchez said.
"We will soon offer a vast portfolio of possible projects in the hydroelectric power engineering sector to Russian companies and will invite them to come here with investments or with some service offers," he said.
The minister noted that energy consumption in the country is on the rise. "We have big reserves, we generate a lot of energy. We make big investments in the hydroelectric power engineering sector. If we expect to have a surplus of about 2,500 megawatt by 2020, the figure will go up to some 10,000 megawatt by 2025," Sanchez said.