Transierra Gasyrg

active

On December 14, 2001, the Bolivian Superintendency of Hydrocarbons granted Petrolera Andina S.A. Consorcio Transierra (Transierra) a non-exclusive contract for the construction and 40-year operation of a 432-km pipeline that was to feed natural gas from Yacuiba, province of Tarija, to Rio Grande, province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra for further export to Brazil through the Bolivia-Brazil pipeline (Gasbol). Construction on the Gasoducto Yacuiba Rio Grande (Gasyrg) pipeline began in February 2002 and it began operating in April of 2003. The pipeline was 32 inches in diameter and was buried along its entire length. It began in Yacuiba, province of Tarija near the Argentine and Paraguayan border, transporting natural gas north from the San Antonio and San Alberto gas fields to the Rio Grande, province of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where it fed into the Gasbol pipeline to Brazil. The system was operated remotely from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the headquarters of Transierra S.A.. The capacity of the pipeline system was increased from initially 11 MMcmd to 17 MMcmd in January 2004 through the completion of construction of a first compressor station in Villamontes. Transierra was owned 44.5% by the private Empresa Petrolera Andina S.A. (Andina), a 50% owned affiliated company of Spain's Repsol YPF S.A., 44.5% by Petrobrás Bolivia S.A., a wholly owned affiliated company of state-owned Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras), and 11% by Total E & P Bolivie S.A., a Bolivian branch of a company wholly owned by France's Total S.A. The same partners had stakes in the San Alberto gas field that contained more than a fifth of eastern Bolivia's total gas reserves, estimated at 1.47bcf. The estimated project cost was US$409 million. In August 2004, the IFC approved of an investment in the project consisting of an A loan for IFC’s own account in the amount of US$50 million and a syndicated B loan in the amount of US$100 million for financing the 2002-2004 investment program of Transierra and increasing the capacity of the Gasyrg pipeline by means of a first compressor station. In August 2014, Petrobras sold its 44.5% stake in Empresa Petrolera Andina S.A. (Andina) to the state-owned company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) for US$ 106.7 million. The remaining shares at Andina remained with Repsol. As of January 2016, the government held 78% of the shares in the project. In May 2006, Morales announced that 51% of the following companies would be held by the state: Chaco SA, Andina SA, Transredes SA, Petrobras Bolivia refinacion SA and Cia Logistica de hidrocarburos de Bolivia SA. This change had not yet gone in effect in 2006, but was expected shortly thereafter.