Equipo Petrolero S.A. (Equipetrol S.A.)

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What it is

Founded in 1958, Equipetrol is a Bolivian company dedicated to services and equipment supply for the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas fields. Think of it as the tool shed and engineering arm that every upstream oil operator needs but rarely wants to own itself.

The company specialises in upstream technology and services, equipment sales and rental, project engineering and management, and partnerships with international companies. Through its history it has worked across all areas of Bolivia’s oil industry and internationally in Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

Equipetrol S.A. is the flagship of Grupo Empresarial Equipetrol, a broader family of companies spanning several segments of the hydrocarbon supply chain. Its Bolivian operational base covers approximately 70,000 square metres.

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Who owns it

Equipetrol is controlled by the Paz Soldán family of Santa Cruz. Pedro Francisco M.

Paz Soldán Unzueta is identified as the company’s key principal, and the ASFI bond prospectus names him as Presidente Ejecutivo; his name appears as the primary contact across regulatory filings. A second family member, Teresiña Bernarda Paz Soldán Urriolagoitia, serves as Finance and Administration Manager, confirming the founding-family grip on day-to-day control.

Not published: the exact ownership percentages held by individual family members and the size of any free float are not disclosed in the BBV issuer filings, the ASFI bond prospectus (ASFI/DSV-PEB-EPE-002/2015, updated 2025), or the BBV’s *Estados Financieros y Memorias* portal (bbv.com.bo/EEFFEmisores/). Bolivia’s Ley del Mercado de Valores No. 1834 requires material shareholding disclosures only for equity issuers; Equipetrol lists debt instruments only, so granular ownership percentages are not a mandatory filing under current rules.

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Who runs it

The 2015 ASFI bond prospectus, updated and re-filed with ASFI, names the executive team: Pedro Francisco Miguel Paz Soldán Unzueta as Presidente Ejecutivo, and Javier Eduardo Alba Santistevan as Gerente General — the day-to-day chief executive. The Finance function is led by Teresiña Bernarda Paz Soldán Urriolagoitia as Gerente de Administración y Finanzas.

ASFI’s public registry confirms that a board election for the 2024 management period was filed and notified, with a new board composition duly registered. The specific names elected for 2024 are in the ASFI tarjeta (appweb.asfi.gob.bo), which was accessible in the search result metadata but did not load fully; readers can access the full board list directly at that URL.

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The money, in plain words

Equipetrol raises money from the public not by selling shares but by selling bonds and commercial paper — short-term debt notes — through the BBV. It has been registered as a bond issuer since 2014 (ASFI/DSV-EM-EPE-006/2014), and its bond programme was authorised by ASFI Resolution No. 134/2015 in February 2015.

The authorised size of that programme was USD 15,000,000 (Bs 147.75 million at today’s rate of 1 USD = 9.85 BOB).

Not published: audited annual revenue, net profit, total assets, net margin, and return on equity for 2022–2024 are filed with ASFI and the BBV under Bolivian securities law, and EMIS confirms that 2024 data exist (last updated June 2025). However, the actual PDF statements on both the BBV’s *Estados Financieros y Memorias* page (bbv.com.bo/EEFFEmisores/) and ASFI’s filing repository either returned server timeouts or could not be parsed during research.

The earliest publicly machine-readable figures from the ASFI prospectus show total assets of Bs 210–222 million (≈ USD 21–23 million at then-prevailing rates) for 2011–2013 — a decade-old snapshot that cannot be presented as current. Investors requiring current financials should download directly from bbv.com.bo/EEFFEmisores/ or request the documents from ASFI under Bolivia’s Ley del Mercado de Valores transparency provisions.

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What it is doing now

On 24 June 2025, ASFI issued Resolution ASFI/492/2025, authorising and registering Equipetrol’s “Pagarés Bursátiles Equipetrol I” — a new short-term commercial paper programme — for public offer through the BBV. Pagarés bursátiles are fixed-term debt notes with maturities of up to 360 days each, used primarily to manage working capital: the company borrows from the public at a fixed rate and repays within the year.

The move signals active capital-market engagement at a time when Bolivia’s state energy company, YPFB, is facing well-documented fiscal constraints, which typically increases demand for independent service providers able to mobilise equipment quickly without sovereign credit support. Equipetrol positions itself as having the capacity to adapt and consolidate its leadership across the national territory.

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What to watch

• Bolivia’s gas output. The country’s proven reserves and YPFB’s drilling budget are the single biggest driver of demand for Equipetrol’s services; any contraction in state-sector spending flows directly into the company’s order book.
• Pagarés take-up. How quickly the June 2025 commercial paper programme is placed on the BBV will be a live read of investor confidence in the company’s short-term credit quality.
• Financial disclosure. Equipetrol is obliged under Bolivian securities law to publish audited annual accounts; when the 2024 memoria anual and financial statements become machine-readable on the BBV or ASFI portals, revenue trajectory and debt coverage will be the first numbers to check.
• Succession and governance. With multiple Paz Soldán family members in senior roles, any shift in the family structure — whether generational transfer or a new external partner — would be a material event for bond holders.
• Regional expansion. The company already operates in five neighbouring countries; any formalisation of a regional subsidiary or joint-venture contract would broaden its revenue base beyond Bolivia’s constrained domestic market.

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This is news, not investment advice.