Bolivia activates five measures to strengthen the supply and control of fuel sales

The following is a machine translation of a Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy release

The supply of fuel in the national territory has shown signs of regularization since August 3, although queues persist at some pumps due to high demand. In response, the national government, through the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH), has activated five measures to strengthen the supply and control of fuels.

“It is an instruction from our president Luis Arce to take immediate measures and provide solutions to the population,” said the executive director of the ANH, Germán Jiménez. In this regard, he reported on the implementation of five measures to address the situation. Among these actions, an additional volume of fuel was made available at four pumps during the night in Oruro and Potosí, as well as in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, to serve interdepartmental heavy transport.

Four additional stations were also set up in the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, which are designed to ensure that vehicles in transit at night can be adequately supplied, thus avoiding product shortages during nighttime hours.

Controls are also being intensified through the deployment of 55 military personnel at 11 fixed and mobile checkpoints in the departments of Santa Cruz, La Paz and Cochabamba, along with 22 ANH officials. In addition, alert messages were implemented at service stations to inform users when a vehicle has already refueled, thus allowing the identification and monitoring of vehicles that have been refueled repeatedly.

Likewise, personnel from various institutions were deployed, including the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy, and the entities under its supervision (AETN, YPFB, ABEN, YLB, ENDE, EBIH, in addition to Customs) to reinforce surveillance at all service stations along the main axis, with a total of more than 200 officials. This measure seeks to reduce queues and mitigate speculation in supply.

The control room was also reinforced with new actions to monitor the supply through cameras and the routing of tankers. These measures are designed to provide effective supervision and ensure the continuous supply of fuel. The names of the service stations that will receive the additional volume will be available on the ANH website to keep the population informed.

It is clarified that the additional volume allocated to these stations is a temporary measure to ensure supply during the night, complementing the regular daily volume. This strategy aims to decongest vehicle queues and improve diesel distribution in the country.