Bolivia chairs forum of gas exporting countries to define strategies

Bolivia on Tuesday presided over the virtual ministerial meeting of the main producers of gas of the world in which eleven countries participated in order to share experiences on exploration and production and define strategies for the development of the hydrocarbon industry.

This is the 23rd Ministerial Meeting of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), which was chaired by the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy of Bolivia, Franklin Molina, who acts as host and president of this meeting.

“We hope that this meeting will provide us with more inputs on the behavior of the gas market and prices in the medium and long term that will help decision-making and the development of energy policies of the GECF member countries,” said Molina at the beginning. of the meeting.

Algeria, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela and Bolivia, members of the GECF, also attended as observers Azerbaijan, Iraq, Malaysia, Norway and the United Arab Emirates. .

This meeting addresses issues such as setting short and medium-term strategies on the behavior of prices in the international market, the positions of each country on the energy transition and the role that gas plays in that process were also analyzed, by the way. of the conclusions of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26) held in Glasgow, Scotland.

At COP26, some 200 countries agreed to intensify efforts to combat climate change, which includes natural gas as a “green transition fuel towards renewable energies,” according to information from the Ministry of Hydrocarbons.

The GECF meeting also promotes the exchange of experiences and knowledge on topics such as global trends in gas exploration and production, analyzing the balance of gas supply and demand, regional and global markets, technologies for environmental management. , among other.

The member countries of the GECF will also elect the new general secretary of that international governmental organization who will assume that position in 2022 for two years.

The GECF provides the framework for the exchange of experiences and information on hydrocarbons among the exporting countries of this resource in the world.

Data

The day before, the Vice Minister of Hydrocarbon Exploration and Exploitation of Bolivia, Raúl Mayta, indicated that the country is facing new activities that will allow the incorporation of gas and liquid reserves and increase the production of these resources through the Upstream Reactivation Plan that includes a portfolio out of 30 exploratory opportunities, according to a bulletin from that State portfolio.

Natural gas production in 2020 in Bolivia was 43.5 million cubic meters per day, while in this management it rose to 45.4 million cubic meters, according to data released by the Vice Ministry of Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons.

In addition, he adds that the production of liquid hydrocarbons went from 41,600 barrels a day to 42,900 barrels, which represents a 3.1% growth, according to the bulletin.

Mayta also explained that the reduction in natural gas export volumes to Argentina was due to “force majeure problems” in the Margarita-X3 well operated by Repsol, but that now gas deliveries “normalized” as they were incorporated Gas volumes from the Incahuasi-5 well located in eastern Santa Cruz.