PETROBRAS, REPSOL SIGN DEALS
Bolivia completes oil nationalisation plan
10/29/2006
President Evo Morales joined representatives of eight foreign companies for a signing ceremony in the capital La Paz marking the achievement of one of his nine-month-old administration's central goals.

President Evo Morales completed his ambitious oil and gas nationalisation plan with the eleventh-hour signing of contracts allowing Petrobras, Repsol YPF and other international petroleum companies to continue operating in Bolivia under state control.
Just after a midnight Saturday deadline to wrap up the nationalisation talks, Morales joined representatives of eight foreign companies for a signing ceremony in the capital La Paz marking the achievement of one of his nine-month-old administration's central goals.
Inking new deals with the Bolivian government were two separate affiliates of Petrobras, Repsol YPF, British Gas Bolivia Corporation, Andina, Chaco, Matpetrol, and Pluspetrol.
The French company Total SA and the U.S.-based Vintage Petroleum signed nationalisation deals on Friday. Morales nationalised the South American country's oil and gas industry on May 1.
Morales on Saturday said that nationalisation and the Argentine deal would provide Bolivia some US$1 billion (euro790 million) in revenues this year but in four years' time could produce as much as US$4 billion annually.