Brazil to buy liquified gas from Algeria, reduce dependence on Bolivia

[Mha]

RIO DE JANEIRO. Brazil's state-run oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, signed an agreement Saturday to buy gas from Algeria and to jointly drill for oil in Brazil, Algeria and other countries, Petrobras said. Petrobras will buy liquified natural gas from Algeria's government oil company Sonatrach to supply domestic needs and fuel thermo-electric power plants, the company said in a statement. Petrobras is expanding cooperation with gas suppliers in Africa and the Middle East to reduce its dependence on Bolivian gas, following the often strained relations between the two countries over gas supplies. Bolivian president Evo Morales nationalized Bolivia's oil and gas industry in a surprise decree on May 1, 2006, straining relations with Petrobras, Bolivia's largest foreign investor. After a year of talks, Petrobras agreed to give Bolivia a larger share of its revenues and raise the price it pays to import Bolivian natural gas. Bolivia also demanded the return of two refineries Petrobras bought in 1999 for US$104 million (euro77 million). They finally settled on US$112 million (euro83 million) far less than Petrobras felt was fair. Brazil currently buys about 25 million cubic meters of natural gas a day from Bolivia, or about half of Brazil's gas consumption and more than two-thirds of Bolivia's gas output.
(FOCUS News Agency)