The Society of Engineers of Bolivia (SIB) has just organized a three-day “Energy Summit” in Santa Cruz with three axes: hydrocarbons, electricity generation and the economy of lithium, an essential element of electric batteries.
The content of the event was essentially technical and scientific, given the level of the assistants. National and international speakers, industry authorities and analysts were present, whose presentations are available on the SIB-Santa Cruz Facebook page.
Since the inauguration, the “lament” on the management of hydrocarbons by the MAS governments has been heard, from the approval of law 3058 to the current collapse of the sector.
I would like to highlight the stinging speech of the Governor of Santa Cruz, in front of a deputy minister who did not stop nodding, and the energetic presentation of the Jubilee Foundation that left the audience with a mixture of anger for the wasted past and doubts about the future of this important source of income and energy.
The president of the state-owned company YPFB intervened fleetingly, almost at the end of the Summit: in addition to joining the “epicedium” (Greek chorus of laments) for the wasted past (“I was not there“, he specified) and demarcating his responsibilities for the chronic crisis of liquid fuels (“YPFB does not handle dollars for fuel imports“), showed an overflowing optimism for the Mayaya well from which valuable information was extracted for possible future exploration instead of hydrocarbons.
The day dedicated to electricity generation was calmer, although the risk of a resounding increase (180%) in electricity tariffs did not go unnoticed when the country (and Santa Cruz in particular) will have to import natural gas for their thermoelectric plants. There are several hydropower projects that are delayed for various reasons (including corruption) and that could mitigate the looming crisis. In any case, there is unanimity in calling for rules that guarantee greater participation of private capital in the country’s urgent energy transition.
On the last day, thanks to the intervention of professionals from Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, the lament shifted to lithium: it was clear that direct extraction (LDE) technology is the most appropriate for Bolivian salt pans, which continue to be overvalued.
As far as exploitation models are concerned, there are two currents in the Lithium Triangle: that of Argentina, which, through its Provinces, has also granted several private companies the salt pan itself, collecting important taxes on profits, and that of Chile and Bolivia which, with marked differences, exercise direct control over this “strategic” resource, often in partnership with private companies. In the latter case, the emphasis is on royalties and profit-sharing.
However, while in Bolivia we do not yet have a Lithium Law, Chile has approved a National Strategy on the basis of which it has renegotiated contracts, setting, depending on the international price, royalties from 6.8% to 40%. In order not to whet Potosí’s appetite, it must be said that the cost of producing a ton of lithium in the Salar de Atacama does not reach four thousand dollars, while in Uyuni it is three times higher. In any case, the reality is that new investments prefer Argentina, due to the amount of evaporitic resources and the favorable business climate.
Finally, there was a consensus that in the next 10 years we will not see a spectacular increase in the price of lithium carbonate, which leaves the contracts that await approval by the Legislative Assembly of Bolivia economically unsustainable, apart from the environmental and social risks.