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Brazil, Bolivia to resume talks
on energy row
Brazil and Bolivia were set to
restart negotiations early next
month over the crisis
surrounding the ownership of the
two countries' refineries, the
Brazilian Energy Ministry said
on Tuesday.
The South American nations had
agreed to resume the stalled
talks over the row over their
state-owned energy companies --
YPFB of Bolivia and Petrobras of
Brazil -- on Oct. 9 in the
Bolivian capital of La Paz, the
ministry said.
Brazilian Mining and Energy
Minister Silas Rondeau suggested
the date for the fresh talks.
The move follows the scrapping
of a meeting scheduled for
Sept.15 amid claims by the
Bolivian government of control
over Petrobras's refineries in
its country. The Brazilian
company's oil and gas refineries
are responsible for 90 percent
of Bolivia's fuel supply.
But Petrobras Director of
Finance Almir Barbassa hoped
that the replacement of former
Bolivian energy chief Andres
Soliz Rada would now mean the
problems surrounding the issue
could be solved more easily.
Soliz Rada, who issued a decree
that the YPFB would take over
Petrobras refineries in Bolivia,
resigned shortly after President
Evo Morales suspended the
resolution.
Barbassa added that the fall in
the international price for
natural gas would also make
negotiations easier for the
Brazilian side.
Since Bolivia's nationalization
of oil and gas resources in May,
Petrobras has been defying
requests from the Morales
government to raise the price of
natural gas provided by Bolivia
to Brazil.
"Their point gets weaker now
because the international price
for natural gas has become lower
than the one we pay," Barbassa
said.
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