La Paz – The process of nationalizing Bolivia’s oil and its massive reserves of natural gas will be delayed until the government can put together an adequate team of technocrats to oversee the industry, President Evo Morales said Monday.
The head of state told foreign correspondents that virtually all the people in Bolivia with the necessary skills and experience are already working for the foreign-owned firms operating in the Andean nation.
“Assembling a new battalion, a new army of petroleum experts to exercise the (state’s) right of property has not been so simple. That’s where we are stuck,” Morales acknowledged.
Energy Minister Andres Soliz Rada had announced earlier that the detailed plan for nationalizing Bolivia’s oil and gas would be released this month.
The president did not set a new deadline for presenting his energy program, which seems likely to require a radical adjustment for the multinationals that flocked to Bolivia when the hydrocarbons sector was privatized in the 1990s.
He also declined to confirm that the nationalization would take effect July 12, as he said last month in a speech in the southeastern city of Camiri, Bolivia’s petroleum capital.
Morales has been careful to stress that he does not intend to confiscate firms’ assets and to insist that his socialist government is anxious for partnerships with foreign companies, but on more equitable terms than in the past.
Bolivia has an estimated 48 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the second-largest reserves in South America after Venezuela.
The president pointed out that both of Bolivia’s past nationalization efforts – in 1937 and 1969 – took between five and 10 months to complete. When the plan does materialize, Morales said, the multinationals must fulfill their pledge to respect Bolivian law.
On another front, the president said he will present next week his comprehensive plan for Bolivia’s economic development. EFE
