Bolivia's government said Sept. 17 it had recovered full control of the country's network of natural gas pipelines after 17 days of anti-government protests. Protesters who occupied the Vuelta Grande natural gas processing plant and a pipeline control station in the southern Chaco region of Chuquisaca department surrendered the facilities early Wednesday after the government signed a deal to start talks with opposition leaders. "Today, the pipeline to Argentina has been reopened and full pumping levels will be reached starting on Friday," an Energy Ministry said in a statement.
The statement said that export levels to Argentina are currently between 1.2 million and 1.3 million cubic meters per day, and will rise to at least 2 million cubic meters by the weekend. Gas exports to Brazil, Bolivia's top natural gas buyer, were halved for several hours last week after protesters sabotaged the pipeline. (Reuters [2], La Gaceta [3], Argentina, Sept. 17)
See our last post on Bolivia [4].
