Bolivia to make half of refinery payment to Petrobras

Bolivia will deposit the first half of a $ 112 mm payment by June 11 for two refineries in Bolivia currently operated by Brazil's state-run oil firm Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras.
Bolivia will pay the second half on Aug. 11, two months after the official transfer of the assets to Bolivia, Guillermo Arequipa, president of Bolivia's state-energy firm Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, is quoted as saying.

Petrobras on May 22 set a June 11 deadline for Bolivia to make the first half of a $ 112 mm payment for the refineries. Bolivia and Petrobras reached a deal May 10 on the refinery sale after Petrobras had threatened international arbitration.
Bolivian President Evo Morales officially nationalized the refineries along with much of the oil and gas industry in his country in May 2006. But the refineries until now are run by Petrobras.

Petrobras bought the refineries in 1999 from Bolivia for $ 104 mm, and says it has since invested about $ 30 mm to modernize them.
But building the refineries from scratch today would cost far more than $ 134 mm, analysts have said.