The government and YPFB encourage the reactivation of the biofuels (ethanol) program

This YPFB release was published using machine translation.

Santa Cruz, May 23 (AN / YPFB) .- The Bolivian Government through the Ministries of Hydrocarbons, Productive Development, Rural Development and Lands, Environment and Water and Bolivian Fiscal Oil Fields (YPFB) agreed on Friday, together to representatives of the national agro-alcohol industry, to lay the foundations of what will be the Ethanol Program 2020-2023, with important advances in terms of continuity and legal certainty for the country's productive sector.

YPFB Executive President Richard Botello led the meeting held with the main executives of the Guabirá, Unagro, Aguaí and La Belgium mills, with whom the technical, legal and economic conditions that allow the sustainable promotion and increase of ethanol were analyzed. anhydrous as biofuel in the country.

Ricardo Pacheco, Manager of Derivative and Industrialized Products of YPFB, explained that in the Ethanol Program 2020-2023 the incorporation of multi-year contracts is projected, which will allow the state oil company and producers of anhydrous ethanol, to have legal security for work for various efforts in the sale and purchase of biofuel, with the consequent benefits of stability and access to financing in better conditions.

"This is a reinforcement of the State policy on biofuels to provide legal security to the apparatus that produces ethanol, considering the maintenance of jobs in the productive sector, as a measure to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 and the reduction of gasoline imports ”, highlighted Pacheco.

The executive pondered that with this commitment it is planned to expand the commercialization of Special Gasoline plus in the different commercial squares of the country, and that the mixture that contains 8% anhydrous ethanol, according to current regulations in force, can be gradually increased until 25% in accordance with Law 1098 of additives of plant origin.

The YPFB president and the ministers Víctor Hugo Zamora (Hydrocarbons), Óscar Ortiz (Productive Development), Eliane Capobianco (Rural Development), María Elva Pinckert (Environment), together with the representatives of the sugar-cane mills, promised to delegate representatives for the creation of a multisectoral technical commission that will analyze the conditions of the multi-year contract.

YPFB President Richard Botello expressed his satisfaction with the agreements reached and assured that "teamwork is key to reaching an agreement that benefits the country, especially in the generation of sources of employment."

COVID COUP-19

This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly affected fuel consumption in the country, the sugar-alcohol mills were unable to place the projected volumes of anhydrous ethanol on the market.

“Once quarantine measures and movement restrictions begin to be relaxed, YPFB will be able to withdraw the programmed volumes of alcohol from the mills. In the period from June to December 2020, it is estimated that a minimum of 52 million liters will be withdrawn, which could increase with a recovery in the demand for gasoline, with regulatory changes in the dosage of ethanol and with the authorization of fuel stations. service and new commercialization places in the country ”, added Ricardo Pacheco, concluding that the promotion of biofuels is a fundamental pillar in the energy policy of the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and YPFB.