Equipo Petrolero S.A.

What it is

Founded in 1958, Equipetrol is a Bolivian company dedicated to services and equipment supply for the exploration and exploitation of gas and oil fields. It develops specialised technology and services in the upstream sector — selling and renting equipment, engineering and project management, and representing prestigious international companies — from an operational base of roughly 70,000 square metres in Bolivia.

Equipetrol S.A. is the listed arm of the broader Grupo Empresarial Equipetrol, which has diversified across important segments of the hydrocarbons chain. Across its history the group has participated in all areas of Bolivia’s oil industry, as well as internationally in neighbouring countries including Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

Who owns it

The company was constituted on 9 October 1958. Ownership percentages are not disclosed in available public sources, but the Paz Soldán family’s controlling grip on the business is visible throughout its leadership: the company was converted from a limited-liability partnership to a public company — from “Equipo Petrolero Ltda.” to “EQUIPETROL S.A.” — and formalised before a notary in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Two family members hold the top executive posts today (see “Who runs it”), a structure that is common among Bolivia’s private conglomerates and suggests the free float is narrow.

On the Bolsa Boliviana de Valores, Equipetrol is registered as a bond issuer (instrument type BLP — long-term bonds) rather than as an equity issuer. That means investors can lend money to the company through the bond market, but the family’s shares are not publicly traded.

Who runs it

Pedro Francisco Miguel Paz Soldán Unzueta serves as Presidente Ejecutivo (executive chairman), with Javier Eduardo Alba Santistevan as Gerente General (chief executive). Teresiña Paz Soldán Urriolagoitia — whose surname matches the chairman’s — holds the Gerente de Administración y Finanzas role, the equivalent of CFO.

The ASFI regulatory filing confirms the 2024 board election, though the full board composition was not recoverable from publicly accessible pages at the time of writing.

The money, in plain words

Equipetrol does not publish a freely accessible annual report online, and its full profit-and-loss accounts are not recoverable without a paid data subscription. What public filings do confirm: the company’s paid-in capital — the money shareholders have formally put into the business — stands at Bs 89,000,000 (~US$9.0m), against an authorised capital ceiling of Bs 176,000,000 (~US$17.9m), as reported to the BBV as at 30 November 2025.

Equipetrol’s bonds carry a credit rating of A2 from Pacific Credit Rating S.A., which signals solid but not top-tier ability to repay debt — good enough to attract Bolivia’s institutional investors, but with acknowledged sensitivity to changes in the sector and the broader economy. In 2015 the company raised US$13.16m through two bond issues on the BBV: a US$4m dollar-denominated series at three years, and a Bs 55.68m boliviano-denominated series at six years.

A second bond programme, “EQUIPETROL II,” was still active on the exchange as of the November 2025 filing.

What it is doing now

In December 2023, TÜV Rheinland completed a surveillance audit of Equipetrol’s ISO certifications — covering quality, environmental, and occupational health standards — with positive results and no deviations found across the company’s processes. The group today maintains its own offices and operations in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia.

The ASFI regulatory portal records that the company held its board election for the 2024 term, but the detailed composition of the new board was not accessible from the public-facing regulator page at the time of writing. Bolivia’s wider energy context matters here: the country’s gas output has been declining, squeezing the budgets of state client YPFB — pressure that any oilfield services company dependent on that ecosystem will feel.

What to watch

• Bolivia’s gas production decline. YPFB, the state oil company and Equipetrol’s dominant client, has reported falling volumes. Fewer active wells mean less work for service companies.
• The second bond programme. “EQUIPETROL II – Emisión 1” (EPE-2-N1U-23) is live on the BBV. Watch whether the company rolls it over or repays — a signal of cash generation and banker confidence.
• Regional expansion. The group has operated across Argentina, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, and maintains active offices in Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia today. International revenue diversification is the company’s natural hedge against Bolivia’s domestic slowdown.
• Financial transparency. Equipetrol publishes no freely accessible annual report. If that changes — required by regulators as bond obligations grow — investors will get their first clean look at revenue and margins.

This is news, not investment advice.