La Paz – Bolivia’s San Alberto natural gas field has 6.93 trillion cubic feet of the fuel, some 40 percent less than had been thought, according to an audit released here Tuesday by the government.
The deposit, located in the southern province of Tarija, is currently operated by Spain’s Repsol YPF, with 50 percent of the project; Brazilian state-owned giant Petrobras, with 35 percent; and French oil major Total holding the remaining 15 percent.
Javier Philco and Jose Luis Rivero, officials with the oversight entity of the hydrocarbons ministry, announced the results of the audit at a press conference.
San Alberto and another major field, San Antonio, together account for 70 percent of the natural gas that Bolivia exports to neighboring Brazil.
Rivero said that the revised figure was the result of a study conducted with data on the pumping pressure within the field, a measurement considered to be more exact than the volumetric calculations made at San Alberto in 2005 that placed the reserves at 11.7 trillion cubic feet.
The officials also said that the gas reserves at the Itau field operated by Total had also been reduced – as a result of another audit – from the former 2.67 trillion cubic feet to 1.56 trillion.
The audits were ordered by Bolivia’s socialist president, Evo Morales, pursuant to his May 1 decree nationalizing the Andean nation’s fossil-fuel resources.
In concrete terms, he gave foreign energy companies until Nov. 1 to convert their operations into minority partnerships with state-owned YPFB or pull out of Bolivia.
The measurement of the natural gas fields is being carried out to verify the results of a study carried out by U.S. firm De Golyer & MacNaughton, which had announced a 33-percent reduction of Bolivia’s proven reserves.
In July, then-Hydrocarbons Minister Andres Soliz said that that report showed a reduction in proven reserves from 26 trillion cubic feet to 18 trillion, but he added that the report was not credible and he attributed it to an attempt to prejudice the government’s energy nationalization plans.
On Monday, officials from the ministry said audits had revealed that the three foreign energy companies with the biggest operations in Bolivia failed to deliver $1.3 billion of the investments they promised at the time the firms obtained their concessions in the Andean nation.
According to the ministry, Repsol YPF, Petrobras and French oil major Total did not carry out all of the exploration called for in their respective contracts. EFE
