May 28, 2023, 4:51 PM
May 28, 2023, 4:51 PM
The additional volumes that Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) dispatches from its storage plants to the different pumps in the department are diverted to illegal activities “such as the illegal mining, smuggling and drug trafficking”.
This was reported by the executive president of YPFB Corporación, Armin Dorgathen, in an interview with state media. There he specified that last week, the state oil company delivered 100,000 liters to Santa Cruz further than, on average, the department needs.
“We see that there is a speculative issue, especially in the department of Santa Cruz. Even though we dispatch volumes above the averages we manage, these volumes are still insufficient (…) That means that these additional fuels that we removed are going to some illegal activity,” he said.
To deal with this situation, YPFB will begin to dye the fuels to identify which pump the diesel and gasoline come from. The use of tracers, molecules that serve to identify which specific service station the product came from or to detect adulterations, is also being analyzed.
The new decrees approved (4910 and 4911), likewise, reduce the diversion of fuel by eliminating the zero NIT on these purchases and instructing the sale only to adults and in a limited quantity.
“NIT zero was the main channel through which contraband was generated”, indicated Dorgathen, who clarified that the control of the sale of diesel and gasoline, in the commercialization points of the country, is the responsibility of the National Hydrocarbons Agency (ANH).
These statements are released at a time when some productive sectors report diesel rationing in different parts of the country, and while YPFB insists that the supply of the domestic market is guaranteed.
The Government estimates that, nationwide, at least 250 million liters of diesel and gasoline are diverted from the formal market and that, of that amount, 80% goes to illegal activities inside Bolivia; while the remaining 20% goes to other countries via smuggling.
