President Arce announces the discovery of a gigantic 1.7 TCF gas field in the Mayaya Centro X-1 well, in La Paz

Machine translation was used to publish this Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy release

In a joint honor session held in commemoration of the 215th anniversary of the revolution of July 16, 1809, President Luis Arce announced the discovery of a mega natural gas field with a capacity of 1.7 TCF. This important discovery was made in the Mayaya Centro-X1 well, located in the Non-Traditional Lliquimuni area, in the Northern Subandean Zone of Bolivia, department of La Paz.

According to well formation tests, “the presence of gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons has been confirmed in the Copacabana, Middle and Lower Tomachi formations. The existence of reserves is confirmed (1.7 trillion cubic feet – TCF), this being the most important discovery for Bolivia since 2005,” said the Head of State.

Without a doubt, Arce stated that, with this discovery, “La Paz enters a totally different dimension. Brother governor, brother mayor, we will now have royalties for La Paz as a producing department (...), we will improve the HDI for the universities, for the municipalities, all of this within the framework of the recovery of our hydrocarbon policy."

The Bolivian President described the event as “a very important qualitative leap for our department of La Paz.” He explained that the project already includes the initial development of three more wells and the construction of the interconnection pipeline for the production of up to 10 million cubic meters (MMm3d) of gas and 500 to 1,000 barrels of oil per day. In terms of income, they represent approximately US$6.8 billion over the total life of this project, he added.

This project, according to the authority, marks the beginning of a new chapter for the Northern Subandean region, “offering the hope of keeping our country as an important gas exporter, promoting a second era of hydrocarbon production and placing La Paz as a department now producing hydrocarbons.”

Arce highlighted the drilling of the Mayaya Centro-X1 IE Well, which began in November 2022, reaching a depth of 6 thousand meters. He recalled that years ago, “$500 million was spent in the north of La Paz and they found absolutely nothing.” On the other hand, now, “with nearly $50 million of investment in our Government, we have discovered a megafield,” he added.