Fresh reports were circulating this week that Acron Group, Moscow, and Bolivia’s state-run oil and gas company, Yacomientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), are eyeing a joint venture for fertilizer production.
An Acron spokesperson confirmed to Green Markets that negotiations are ongoing following the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) last year, but said no binding agreement has been signed so far. He did not provide further details.
Twelve months ago, Acron Group and YPFB signed a MOU to negotiate the purchase and sale of 4 million cubic metres/d of Bolivian natural gas, according to the Bolivian Ministry of Hydrocarbons (GM June 15 & 22, 2018). Acron declined to comment on the MOU at the time.
The MOU, according to the report, also provided for the creation of a joint-venture company for the commercialization of urea produced by YPFB at its ammonia and urea plant at Bulo Bulo, in Bolivia’s central Carrasco province, that started up in September 2017.
The jv company also potentially included output from Petrobras’ nitrogen fertilizer plant Araucária Nitrogenados SA (ANSA), in Paraná state, and the still-to-be-completed nitrogen fertilizer complex, Unidade de Fertilizantes Nitrogenados III (UFN-III) in Três Lagoas, Mato Grosso do Sul state, which are both up for sale. Last year, Acron was reported to be in exclusive negotiations with Petrobras to buy the plants, which at the time were being offered for sale as a package (GM May 11, 2018).
Earlier this month, Caracas-based Latin American television network Telesur, citing a statement by Bolivian Minister of Hydrocarbons Luis Sanchez, reported that Acron and YPFB were concluding negotiations for the sale of natural gas to the part-completed UFN-III complex and forming a joint-management for the assets. Earlier reports had indicated the supply of Bolivian gas to the plant would start from 2022 (GM June 15, 2018).