Bolivia–Paraguay Gas Pipeline

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The Bolivia–Paraguay Gas Pipeline is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Bolivia and Paraguay.

Location

The pipeline would run east from Villa Montes, Tarija department, Bolivia to Mariscal Estigarribia, Paraguay, where it would turn southeast and follow the Ruta Transchaco (Transchaco Highway, or Ruta 9) to Asunción, Paraguay.

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Project Details

• Operator: YPFB (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos), PETROPAR (Petróleos Paraguayos)
• Parent Company: Bolivian and Paraguayan governments
• Capacity: 6 MMcm/d (212 MMcf/d)
• Length: 900 km / 559 miles
• Status: Shelved
• Start Year: 2024

Background

Proposals to build a pipeline for the transport of Bolivian natural gas to Paraguay date back at least two decades, to the early 2000s.

In June 2019 Bolivian president Evo Morales and Paraguayan president Mario Abdo Benítez announced plans to construct a 900-kilometer international gas pipeline between Villa Montes, Bolivia and Asunción, Paraguay. Feasibility studies for the project were to be undertaken over an eight-month period by state-owned gas companies YPFB (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos) and PETROPAR (Petróleos Paraguayos). Following completion of these initial studies, the two countries planned to seek investors for the project, with the goal of commissioning the pipeline by 2024. YPFB president Óscar Barriga estimated that in its initial phase, the pipeline could supply 6 to 10 million cubic meters per day of Bolivian natural gas to consumers in Paraguay.

Despite experts' expressions of doubt about the project's feasibility, and a December 2020 statement by Bolivian hydrocarbons minister Franklin Molina that "the technical and economic conditions do not exist to justify this kind of an expense because demand is not there", Paraguayan president Mario Abdo Benítez and Bolivian president Luis Arce continued to discuss the project as recently as June 2022.

As of March 2024, there had been no news of the project in nearly two years. With Bolivian gas production falling off precipitously and exports to Argentina scheduled to end in June, there appeared to be little chance of the Bolivia-Paraguay pipeline moving forward.

In July 2024, following the discovery of a huge new gas field with an estimated capacity of 1.7 trillion cubic feet, Bolivian president Luis Arce held out the promise of a "second era of gas exports," implying that future export pipelines might be built. However, pending further notice, the Bolivia-Paraguay pipeline project was presumed to be shelved.

Articles and resources

External articles

Proposed Pipelines in Latin America