Arce highlights the historic return of YPFB to exploration and production of

This is an automated translation of the original release published in Spanish.

YPFB statement

UCOM-MHE-YPFB-05-04-2023.- “Today is a very important day for the country’s economy and oil history” because, with the discovery of the Yope-X1 (YOP-X1) well, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) returns to the activity of exploration and production of hydrocarbon resources as an operating company, President Luis Arce Catacora said on Thursday in Yapacaní, Santa Cruz at the official presentation of that project.

“This well was done by YPFB. This is very important. We have the obligation to strengthen the musculature of our state company because it is giving us great satisfaction,” said the Head of State.

For his part, the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energies, Franklin Molina Ortiz, highlighted that the execution of the YOP-X1 well, which confirms a new discovery of gas and condensate in the upper level of the Petaca formation, was carried out by Bolivian professionals.

“YPFB is fully an operator. There are 11 more projects that YPFB has been executing, we hope that several of them will give positive results,” he added.

“The drilling of the well culminated in an important exploratory success, since the test confirms that a gas production of 1.4 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) and 115 barrels per day (BPD) of condensate was obtained,” the president of the state oil company, Armin Dorgathen, explained in turn.

The YOP-X1 project is located in exploration area 104, located in the Yapacaní municipality, belonging to the Ichilo province of Santa Cruz department. The well investigated and evaluated the hydrocarbon potential in the Petaca and Yantata formations. For this, YPFB invested US$17.6 million in the drilling of the well, a prospect that allows expanding the exploratory frontier in Bolivia towards the Boomerang basin.

The services associated with the provision of materials, goods and others, in addition to the improvement and maintenance of the road, represent a social impact that benefits the populations surrounding the YOP – X1 well. In the areas close to this prospect are Víbora, Cascabel and Boquerón, fields that confirmed hydrocarbon production in the Petaca and Yantata formations.