27 Jun “Bolivian gas reached Brazil”
This was the headline of the Bolivian newspaper “El Diario” in July 2nd of 1999 because the 1st of July of that year was a historic cornerstone for the country. After 25 years of hard work, the most important energy integration project in South America, the Bolivia – Brazil gas pipeline, was completed. A project that explains, among other things, half of the Bolivian economic growth of the last 15 years.
For this reason, I invite you to this historic tour that reminds us the great national effort that this project demanded.
In the Bolivian city of Cochabamba on Wednesday May 22nd of 1974 the presidents of Bolivia (Hugo Bánzer) and Brazil (Ernesto Geisel) signed the energy cooperation agreement that, among other issues, started the option to sale natural gas from Bolivia to Brazil. At that moment, the “talks” discussed a volume close to 6.8 million of cubic meters per day. The Bolivian newspaper “El Diario” (a valuable source of historical information for this post) captures the moment when both presidents signed this agreement.
On February 9th of 1984 in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the presidents of Bolivia (Hernán Siles) and Brazil (Joao Figueiredo) re opened the 1974 project focusing on natural gas.
On August 2nd of 1988, the Presidents of Bolivia (Víctor Paz Estenssoro) and of Brazil (José Sarney) signed reverse notes where they committed to the purchase and sale of products derived from natural gas, electric power and natural gas. Note that on this occasion the president of Brazil arrived at the city of La Paz and was able to speak at the Congress.
On February 17th of 1993 in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba, the presidents of Bolivia (Jaime Paz Zamora) and Brazil (Itamar Franco) signed the first and historical contract. The GSA between YPFB and Petrobras. Although the headline of the newspaper highlights an impasse occurred at the time of signing, this should not diminish the merit (from my point of view) to the significance of the event. The press explained that the project would increase GDP by 1%, how far was from the truth; this project contributed much, much more than just 1%.
On September 4th of 1996, in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba the presidents of Bolivia (Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada) and of Brazil (Fernando Henrique Cardoso… in my opinion one of the best presidents of Brazil of recent times) signed the definitive contract and started the construction of the gas pipeline.
Finally, on July 1st of 1999, Bolivia sent for the first time in history gas to Brazil. “Bolivian Gas arrived in Brazil” would be the headline of the Bolivian newspaper El Diario. “The business of the century … after 25 years of negotiations” said the newspaper La Razón.
25 years of work. 5 Bolivian presidents. Hundreds of Bolivian professionals. Made this dream come true.
I can’t be indifferent with this headline: “Bolivian gas arrived Brazil.” This headline tells us about courage and perseverance, talks about big dreams, tells us that when Bolivians want… we really can.
When the GSA is close to the end (in another post I’ll explain why Bolivia will still send gas for a couple of years) and this July 1st of 2019 we will remember XX years of the arrival of Bolivian gas in Brazil, I wanted to pay tribute to all the people who worked in a visible, and often invisible, way for the construction of a project that gave us “food” the last 15 years.
While I’m still strong and alive I will remind to the new generations the monumental effort that our country made to get this project done. It will be of more civilized times when we will be able to pay tribute to all those who worked on this project and we can say with pride: there was a time when we had big dreams.
Mauricio Medinaceli Monrroy
La Paz, June 27th of 2019
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