Bolivia’s state-owned energy company YPFB has come across a big exploration opportunity in the country’s Vitiacua area that can potentially hold about 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
The structure has been mapped by a 2D seismic survey covering 166 line kilometres that lasted nearly 10 months and cost about 100 million bolivians ($14.5 million).
“This is a project we visualise a vast hydrocarbons potential. We expect to find resources close to 2 Tcf of gas with associated condensate,” said YPFB exploration and production vice president Enzo Michel.
The 2D seismic acquisition and interpretation will allow YPFB to proper define the prospect to the north of the Sabalo field in the Chuquisaca department and later spud the Vitiacua-X1 wildcat.
“We are facing an intensive exploration campaign. Vitiacua stands out among the three best prospects in YPFB’s project portfolio,” said Michel.
“We will conclude this first stage in approximately two months. If good results are confirmed, we will advance towards drilling by the end of 2024.”
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Gas production in Bolivia has been declining at a steady pace since 2015, although it increased a bit in 2021 following the Covid-19 pandemic in the previous year.
However, gas output is expected to drop more rapidly in the coming years from 1.4 billion cubic feet per day in 2022 to as low as 400 million cubic feet per day by 2030, according to a report from consultancy Wood Mackenzie.
Domestic demand currently consumes about 30% of the total supply, but by 2030 the country will likely become a gas importer unless a push for exploration and more discoveries help reverse the production trend.