Bolivia’s Push to Replace Costly Fuel Imports with Homegrown Energy

Bolivia’s state oil and gas company, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), is pouring the majority of its resources into finding new oil and gas fields.

From 2021 to 2025, the company is spending around 65% of its hydrocarbon budget on exploration and development. The move comes after years of shrinking production and growing dependence on imported fuel.

Ten years ago, Bolivia was a reliable exporter of natural gas, selling mainly to Brazil and Argentina. But output has dropped sharply — from 51.2 million cubic meters per day in 2018 to 32.4 million in 2024.

Exports, worth $6.6 billion in 2014, fell to just $2 billion in 2023. At the same time, fuel imports soared, costing $4.4 billion in 2022 — nearly a third of the country’s total import bill. These trends have pushed Bolivia into a trade deficit and strained public finances.

The roots of the problem stretch back to the years of high export earnings, when authorities invested too little in new exploration.

Now, Bolivia is paying the price, scrambling to secure supply at home before foreign contracts shift. Argentina will stop buying Bolivian gas by the end of 2024, and Brazil’s deal expires in 2026.

Since 2021, YPFB has launched over 50 exploration projects, spending more than $1.3 billion. Eighteen of these have delivered viable results, including the standout Mayaya Centro-X1 well in La Paz province.

Mayaya could hold 1.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas — Bolivia’s biggest find in nearly 20 years. Officials say it could meet domestic needs and possibly restore some exports, but only if new infrastructure and development plans move forward quickly.

The company will invest $629 million in hydrocarbons next year, with 80% dedicated to exploration and extraction. Results from these drilling campaigns will emerge between 2027 and 2028, determining whether Bolivia can cut back significantly on imports.

Behind the official plan lies a simple reality: energy security is turning into an urgent economic issue. Every dollar spent on imported diesel or gasoline is a dollar not spent on schools, health, or infrastructure.

Without new reserves, fuel shortages and rising costs could ripple through the economy. The push to discover domestic resources is, at its core, a bid to regain control over a sector that once sustained Bolivia’s growth.