Bolivia's Leader Faces Complex Task (Natural gas nationalistaion)

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

LA PAZ, Bolivia -- President Evo Morales' effort to nationalize Bolivia's natural gas industry poses major challenges for his leftist government, including where to find money to carry out the radical plan and how to deal with his worried neighbors.

Bolivia wants to use its cash-strapped, state-owned gas company to oversee all aspects of gas production, refining and sales in the country _ but it's not clear how it can come up with the money it needs to wrest control of the industry from the foreign companies now managing it.

The state-owned company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, was stripped of its operational capabilities in the mid-1990s when Bolivia's gas industry was privatized, and experts say it also lacks qualified personnel and expertise to become a legitimate company.

It's even less clear what most of the foreign companies, and the governments that defend their interests, will do now that they face dramatically lower profits.


More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/04/AR2006050400226.html

[izzie]

1. Saudi lets an Am. Co. run theirs.

Maybe they could get a German Co. to do it for them? Germans usually run things pretty good. The problem seems to be when you can not make up your mind and keep changing the people doing it. Saudi was in the middle of getting rid of one phone co. and going to other, both from different countries, so you just could not get on the phone and make a call. Now my husband worked for the Gov. in the water business and I bet 10 countries were mixed up with it but they did get the water. It would be best to have the local people learn to run it all for them self. Or I would think it would be the best way to go. That may take time.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

2. The problem appears to be twofold.

They'll no doubt be able to find qualified people to run their operations, given some time. It sounds like the immediate hurdle is financial and political. After that's sorted, they'll need to find a way of making the transition smoothly, so as not to disrupt production. Any large-scale disruptions would be very very bad for Morales.

[1932]

3. What are the chances that the Washington Post would have written

an article that was enthusiastic about Bolivia's anti-neoliberal course?