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Saturday April 21, 5:24 AM
Bolivia cuts gas supplies to Argentina, Brazil amid protestsBolivian authorities announced Friday a drastic rationing of natural gas supplies to Argentina, and smaller cuts in exports to Brazil after protesters seized control of three gas installations. Argentina will be the worst affected, with natural gas deliveries cut from five million cubic meters (176 million cubic feet) a day to just 1.2 million cubic meters (42 million cubic feet), said Planning and Development Minister Gabriel Loza.
The decision came after residents in southern Bolivia seized control of two gas pumping stations operated by Royal Dutch Shell subsidiary Transredes and another installation run by Brazil's Petrobras. Local residents in Yacuiba and nearby areas have been involved in violent protests since Monday, demanding a larger share of royalties from the huge Margarita natural gas field. Earlier in the week, the protesters clashed with security forces and held dozens of police forces hostage, releasing them on Thursday. They also paralyzed roads leading to neighboring Argentina and Paraguay. While it is not yet fully operational, the Margarita gas field, which is at the center of the dispute, is believed to contain 20 percent of Bolivia's proven and probable natural gas reserves, which authorities say total 1.55 trillion cubic meters (54.74 trillion cubic feet). Royalties from the gas field, operated by Spain's Repsol YPF, amounted to 25 million dollars last year, when leftist President Evo Morales announced that Bolivia's oil and gas contracts with foreign operators would be renegotiated. Congress on Thursday approved the 44 contracts with 10 transnationals, giving Bolivia majority control of the energy sector, after partisan disputes and clerical errors held up the government's flagship nationalization policies for months. The Bolivian state will now draw 82 percent of the revenues from oil and natural gas production, as compared to 18 percent in the past. South America's poorest country, Bolivia has the region's second-largest natural gas reserves, after Venezuela.
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