Bolivia nationalises oil refineries
In keeping with its nationalisation drive, Bolivia recently took full control of two Petrobras oil refineries in the country.
The Brazilian government-owned company Petrobras, the biggest foreign investor in Bolivia and leading natural gas producer, was bought for us $112 million. After Venezuela, Bolivia has South America's biggest natural gas reserves.
The move is part of Bolivian president Evo Morales' energy nationalisation drive that aims at giving the state more control and a larger part of the profits. Morales wishes to reduce poverty by increasing state revenues from the energy sector, which was privatised in the 1990s. Petrobras had bought the two refineries for us $104 million during that time.