Corporate Structure
Petrobras Bolivia, responsible for all of the company's business in Bolivia, is an autonomous unit connected to the Executive Management for the Southern Cone (belonging to Petrobras' International business area).
Petrobras Bolivia's structure is composed of three companies, each, in turn, a joint stock company. Petrobras Bolivia Inversiones y Servicios S.A. (PEBIS) is the holding that concentrates the equity interest and control, in addition to providing services to the other companies that are part of Petrobras Bolivia.
Petrobras Bolivia S.A. (PEB) is responsible for the hydrocarbon exploration, production, and marketing operations.
Petrobras Bolivia Transportes S.A. (PBT) owns and operates the GASAM gas pipeline, which ranges from the GASBOL (Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline) to the borderline between the two countries.
So far as Transierra is concerned, a company Petrobras Bolivia has equity interest in, operates 432-km the Yacuiba-Río Grande (GASYRG) gas pipeline, which transports natural gas from the San Alberto and San Antonio fields do the Río Grande compression plant.
Petrobras Bolivia:
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- A Bolivian company
- Petrobras’ arrival in Bolivia
- The continent’s biggest energy project
- Petrobras and its impact on the economy
- Present in Downstream for seven years
A Bolivian company
Created in late 1995, in less than ten years Petrobras Bolivia became Bolivia’s biggest corporation. In this period, it has invested more than $1.5 billion there, equivalent to 18% of the Bolivian GDP (Gross Domestic Product), and paid taxes corresponding to 25% of the country's total tax collection.
Petrobras Bolivia’s operations have had strong impact on the local economy, purchasing an average of $100 million in products and services from Bolivian companies.
Petrobras Bolivia and its subsidiaries account for the creation of upwards of 1,500 direct jobs in Bolivia, and about 95% of its employees are Bolivian nationals.
topPetrobras’ arrival in Bolivia
Petrobras arrived in Bolivia after 40 years of negotiations between the governments of Bolivia and Brazil, which had the common objective of boosting development in the integration base, particularly the energetic one in mind.
Since the operations were kicked-off (1996), the company has performed in partnership with Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), the company it signed the preliminary natural gas purchase and sale agreement with in 1992 to participate in hydrocarbon exploration and production in Bolivia. Furthermore, it pioneered the gas industry’s installation there.
The Petrobras/YPFB partnership had reserve exploration and development, the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline construction, and the increase in the Brazilian natural gas consumer market as outcomes.
The infrastructure built as a result of the joint efforts consolidated gas as the main commodity produced in Bolivia, one which is capable of leveraging both countries’ development.
Petrobras' presence in Bolivia has had a relevant role in natural gas and energy market integration in the continent’s Southern Cone. Additionally, it not only allowed the eight-fold increase of the country’s natural gas reserves, but also marked a period of development for the Bolivian industry and economy.
topThe continent’s biggest energy project
The Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline construction, Latin America’s most important energy infrastructure project, was financed by Petrobras - $1.58 billion for the Brazilian section and about $435 million for the 557-kilometer Bolivian section.
The company also financed, indirectly, the remaining $74 million through its partners. That is how a “monumental 3,069-kilometer bridge,” equivalent to 30,600 soccer stadiums, was built to promote the two countries’ integration and energetic development with projections for the 21st century.
After 25 years of negotiations and agreement-signing, Petrobras singed the natural gas purchase and sell agreement, from Bolivia to Brazil, with Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) in August 1996. That was when Petrobras established Petrogasbol, the company put in charge of executing the turn-key agreement that included the engineering, material acquisition and gas pipeline construction services. GTB, on its part, outsourced the Bolivian and foreign oil consortium services that kicked the construction work off in November 1997.
The last duct was installed a year later, in July 1999, and Bolivian gas started being provided to Brazil. This marked the development of the Bolivian hydrocarbon industry, gas market and economy.
topPetrobras and its impact on the economy
Since it kicked its operations off in Bolivia (1996) through the 2006 administration, Petrobras and its trade partners invested more than $1.6 billion in the country.
Tax & royalty payment, material procurement expenses, contracting services from Bolivian companies, natural gas and fuel exports, in addition to investments made in the hydrocarbon segment itself, summarize the impact Petrobras' operations have had on the national economy. In the past few years, the movement that was generated topped $2.3 billion.
After Petrobras Bolivia arrived, in 1996, in addition to the upwards of $1.5 billion in investments made in the past nine years, through 2006, $2.9 billion were paid in taxes, fees and royalties to the State. Last year, the company's contributions averaged 24% of the Bolivian tax collection, i.e., nearly a fourth of the public revenue was generated by Petrobras' operations.
topPresent in Downstream for seven years
Via Petrobras Bolivia Refinación, during the seven years the company was in charge of Bolivia’s two biggest refineries: Guillermo Elder Bell (Santa Cruz) and Gualberto Villarroel (Cochabamba). Both process a global average of nearly 40,000 bpd, a volume that supplies all of the internal demand for Special and Premium gasolines, Aviation Fuels (Gasoline and Kerosene) and Kerosene, in addition to supplying 60% of the Diesel consumption.
In its seven years of operation, the Downstream segment concentrated on maximizing the distilled product offer (Diesel, Aviation Fuel and Kerosene), especially Diesel, produced in the country or abroad. Its goal was to ensure the domestic market’s supply, which generated surplus volumes of gasoline and reconstituted oil.
In addition to its important presence in the downstream area, Petrobras Bolivia also performed in fuel distribution via Petrobras Bolivia Distribución, which was in charge of marketing derivatives and the YPFB and Lubrax lubricant lines, produced at the Gualberto Villarroel Refinery, in Cochabamba.
Petrobras sold the country’s two biggest refineries to YPFB, which operate in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba, for $112 million. As of June 26 2007, the date the two units were transferred, YPFB took-over all of the shares and took control over their assets and liabilities, including oil derivative supply in Bolivia.
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