Bolivia opens first biodiesel plant to curb imports

Bolivia inaugurated operations of a 1,500 b/d biodiesel plant this week, the first in the country and part of a strategy to lower crude imports.

The plant, in the eastern Santa Cruz department, will use oil seeds, palm oil and recycled cooking oil as feedstock, according to state-run oil company YPFB. A second biodiesel plant that will also run on similar feedstocks is under construction in El Alto, in the highland La Paz region, scheduled for completion in November.

Bolivia has traditionally imported crude, but years of declining oil and natural gas reserves and increased demand has required it to increase imports. It has exported gas to neighboring Argentina and Brazil via pipeline, but the falling reserves will force it to stop exports to Argentina in October. It plans to continue exporting to Brazil for the rest of the decade.

Bolivia consumes around 35,000 b/d of diesel and 34,000 b/d of gasoline, but produces 12,000 b/d and 20,000 b/d, respectively.

It imported a 150,000 bl shipment of crude from Argentina in early March, and plans to import 1.6mn bl this year.

YPFB is also working on a hydrotreated vegetable oil plant in Santa Cruz, with a second one planned for La Paz.

Bolivia is the tenth-largest soybean producer in the world, with output of 3.4mn t in 2023, according to the US Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service.

By Lucien Chauvin