The state oil company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) discovered a gas reservoir that will be exploited through the Remanzo-X1 well (RMS-X1) and that is estimated to generate revenues worth 5 billion dollars, the company’s chief executive, Armin Dorgathen, confirmed.
“The Remanzo-X1 well is like our experimental well; we drill and find sand, which at some point was tested and abandoned; we did the corresponding tests, which allowed us to identify that we have 0.7 TCF of [gas] resources and 52 million barrels of liquids in the area to develop,” the executive explained at a press conference.
The Bolivian oil company “YPFB” seeks to have greater participation in the market and operate its own oil wells, whereas before it was only dedicated to supervising the production of other companies.
“The upstream reactivation strategy is yielding results: the construction of fields and new reservoirs, as well as the reactivation of existing fields,” Armin Dorgathen stated.
The government’s goal is to replace imports of gasoline and diesel, which involve expenses of more than 1 billion dollars.
The Remanzo-X1 well, located in the department of Santa Cruz (east), is being explored as part of the first campaign of interventions in 29 wells chosen from the portfolio of mature or closed fields with potential for reactivation.
Bolivia now produces roughly 40 million cubic meters of natural gas per day (MMm3d), with 17 MMm3d headed for the Brazilian market, 10 MMm3d destined for the Argentine market, and 12.5 MMm3d destined for the domestic market.
