At a Glance: Bolivian presidential candidates’ hydrocarbon plans

Bolivians will go to the polls on October 18 to elect a new president to replace the interim government which took power in November following the resignation of Evo Morales who had been in office since 2006.

Morales – who nationalized the hydrocarbons sector – stepped down amid violent protests following a questioned electoral process which would have seen the indigenous leader continue for a fourth term.

Ahead of next month’s election, Luis Arce (pictured left), of the left-wing Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) political party and who was economy and public finance minister under Morales, leads voter preference, which has fallen to 25-29% from around 40%.

Former head of state Carlos Mesa (pictured right) of the centrist Comunidad Ciudadana party follows with 17-22%.

The electoral situation took a turn in recent days with the withdrawal of interim president Jeanine Áñez as a candidate in a bid to muster forces with other center and center-right candidates.

Voter preference for Áñez had been around 8.5%, a percentage shared by far-right candidate Luis Fernando Camacho of the Creemos coalition.

If no candidate garners more than 50% of the vote or a minimum 40% with a 10% difference between the top candidate and runner-up, a second round would be held.

To learn how Arce and Mesa plan to reactivate the hydrocarbons sector, BNamericas provides key takeaways from roadmaps presented by the candidates’ representatives during an event organized by Bolivia’s school of oil engineers (CIPB) and the engineers school (SIB).

Luis Arce, represented by Franklin Molina Ortiz

• Three phased exploration plan for natural gas led by the development of new reservoirs in the short term, new areas near production facilities in the medium term and non-traditional areas in the long term;
• Target field optimization to increase gas production by reducing operating expenditure at mature fields and expanding production facilities and plants;
• Increase liquids output at mature fields through secondary and tertiary recovery, reactivating closed mature fields, reducing operating expenditure, prioritizing Bolivian companies, simplifying the process of granting areas, prioritizing areas near infrastructure such as pipelines and processing plants, and boosting exploration;
• Increase gas transport capacity and expand gas distribution;
• Implement a vegetable oil-based “ecological” diesel policy that envisions the construction of 12,500b/d plants in Cochabamba and Santa Cruz and associated infrastructure, such as silos, to reduce imports, and
• Widen the reach of LNG to supply direct end users, including land and waterway transport and power plants.

 Carlos Mesa, represented by Susana Anaya Navia 

• Merge the hydrocarbons and energy ministries to allow for integrated and coordinated policymaking;
• Return technical administrative independence to the regulator;
• Propose modifications to improve YPFB’s efficiency and competitiveness, and guarantee the operator’s role as a strategic state company and free of political interference;
• Improve transparency of information and good practices in goods and service procurement;
• Use Peru’s hydrocarbons licensing authority Perupetro as an example;
• Implement a progressive and attractive fiscal regime based on technical characteristics, the size of reservoirs and pricing to make projects economically feasible;
• Use a competitive regime to assign areas;
• Complete exploration wells in progress and conclude seven exploration and production service contracts pending from 2019;
• Prepare and put into execution an emergency plan for the recovery of production at declining, mature and marginal fields, and
• Suspend industrialization projects until audits are completed and resolve issues related with the Bulo Bulo ammonia and urea complex, and the Kallutaca plant, which produces polyethylene pipes and accessories.

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