The state-owned Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) announced on Saturday an investment of US$324 million in exploratory prospecting activities this 2023, with the aim of replenishing natural gas and liquid reserves.
“We are going to invest in what will change the production of natural gas. Exploration is what will allow us to find new megafields. This investment is one of the highest in Bolivia’s oil history,” said the president of the state oil company, Armin Dorgathen, in a statement.
The manager explained that the country is facing great challenges for the sector to advance in new opportunities, with the premise of intensifying the exploration activity of hydrocarbons in the South American country with a self-employment that, he acknowledged, is a high geological risk job.
Along these lines, Dorgathen said that the drilling of wells for the search for hydrocarbons has an associated risk; however, if these activities are not carried out, the expected results will not be achieved.
He assured that exploratory prospecting works are currently being carried out in the South Sub-Andean, while activities are simultaneously being carried out in Non-Traditional Zones such as the Madre de Dios Basin.
According to YPFB, of the 32 exploratory projects that are part of the Upstream Reactivation Plan (PRU), which aim at the search for gas and liquids, 16 are underway, nine have been completed, three are in preparation and approval management, three are approved and one is in “force majeure”.
In addition, of the total exploratory projects, 17 will be undertaken by the state company YPFB Headquarters since the implementation of the Upstream Reactivation Plan.
The president of YPFB maintained that those who say that Bolivia is running out of gas have “an incorrect assessment” since, on the contrary, it is intensifying in exploratory projects.
“Although there is a natural decline in gas production that began in 2015 and 2016, this situation is being reversed with the drilling of new exploratory wells, with the aim of discovering new reservoirs to maintain and increase hydrocarbon reserves”, he asserted.
With information from Xinhua