Bolivia Min: Foreign Oil Companies Can’t Book Reserves as Own

Foreign energy companies can’t book Bolivian oil and gas reserves as theirs, Bolivian Hydrocarbons Minister Carlos Villegas said, the El Diario newspaper reported Friday.

“Can companies book the reserves as theirs at stock exchanges? I clearly tell them ‘no,’ because the owner is the Bolivian state,” Villegas is quoted as telling a Bolivian senate commission.

Villegas added companies that continue to book Bolivian reserves as theirs will be expelled from Bolivia.
Most energy companies operating in Bolivia have kept silent about the issue but keep registering Bolivian oil and gas reserves with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR), or Petrobras, has said repeatedly it accepts the reserves belong to the Bolivian state but keeps booking them due to obligations as a listed company.

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