Bolivia has ordered state intervention in oil company YPFB as fuel shortages persist, after President Rodrigo Paz’s diesel price hike sparked protests.
LA PAZ: The Bolivian government announced Wednesday that it had placed state oil company YPFB under temporary supervision, citing problems with fuel imports and distribution amid a severe supply crisis.
Long lines of drivers queuing for scarce fuel have become a regular sight in Bolivia, where President Rodrigo Paz took power last November on a pledge to end the worst economic crisis in decades.
A government decree, dated Tuesday, orders YPFB’s “extraordinary, transparent and temporary” takeover to “protect the interests of the State.”
The measure could last for up to 180 days and also aims to evaluate how Bolivia currently imports and distributes fuel.
The president’s office said in a Facebook post Wednesday that the move would “restore efficiency, strengthen fuel supply and bring transparency to the logistics chain.”
A commission made up of several ministerial representatives will oversee the management of the state-owned enterprise.
Hydrocarbons Minister Marcelo Blanco acknowledged to reporters that “regular measures we had taken didn’t work” and attributed the fuel shortage to “logistical shortcomings in YPFB’s import and distribution” processes.
The Ministry of Hydrocarbons also announced that it intends to gradually strip YPFB of its role in fuel marketing so the state firm can focus on extraction, exploration and refining.
The government last week hiked diesel prices from 9.80 bolivianos (about 80 US cents) a liter to 18 bolivianos (US$1.50) in an effort to curb fuel smuggling to other countries, which it says is aggravating shortages.
Farmers angry at the decision blocked roads in the northeastern Beni department and Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s economic powerhouse.
The popular dissent tactic defied a state of emergency which Paz declared in June to take the wind out of massive protests against his administration.
The US-backed leader came to power after decades of socialist rule.
His attempts to salvage the economy, such as the scrapping of fuel subsidies in December, caused prices to double and have been unpopular in some circles.
The lack of fuel subsidies drained Bolivia’s foreign currency reserves instead of ending the long lines at gas stations, as Paz had promised.
Paz is currently in talks with international lenders over a multibillion-dollar bailout.
