YPFB restarted a strategic route that will increase transport capacity and diversify supply routes.
This Monday, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) reactivated a strategic route for fuel imports into the country. Through rail transport, more than one million liters of gasoline arrived, marking the first operation of this type in more than three years. "This is the first rail transport operation in more than three years. We are enabling a new way to bring fuel massively to Bolivia (...) Each convoy is bringing around a thousand cubic meters, that is, one million liters per convoy. Today this one arrived at six in the morning, another will arrive at four in the afternoon," said the executive president of the state oil company, Sebastián Daroca Oller.
The fuel initially arrived in Bolivia via the waterway to Puerto Aguirre and from there was transported by train to Santa Cruz. According to YPFB, this modality is part of a strategy to diversify supply routes, reduce logistics costs, and reinforce fuel supply security. In total, it stated that four convoys with fuel will arrive in Santa Cruz. The first arrived this Monday at the Palmasola refinery; the second is scheduled to arrive at 4:00 p.m. today; the third is scheduled for this Tuesday and, in parallel, at the Puerto Aguirre plant in Puerto Suárez, loading of a fourth convoy is already underway.
Likewise, it highlighted that the reactivation of rail transport will improve logistics efficiency, increase fuel import capacity, and strengthen domestic market supply. "Soon we will also take all steps to start bringing diesel through this route as well. This is very important in terms of saving logistics costs and in terms of a mass transport medium that can be reactivated. It has been more than three years since this route was used," he noted.
The state oil company indicated that the use of rail constitutes a complementary alternative to mobilize large volumes of fuel, as it offers lower logistics costs and more efficient transfer times compared to other means of transport, thus strengthening national supply.
Regarding diesel, it reported that this fuel will continue to arrive via tanker trucks. "In these convoys, only gasoline is arriving. Diesel continues to flow through tanker trucks, and the tanker trucks are already on their way. We have more than 12 million liters in transit. That means that in the coming days the diesel fuel issue will be progressively resolved. We are now distributing to the provinces and the city. In the coming days this will be regularized," he added.
Among the main advantages of this operation are the optimization of logistics costs, greater capacity to transport fuels, diversification of import routes, and strengthening of energy security through a more efficient logistics system. "Each convoy is bringing around one million liters. This week we are bringing 4 or 5 million liters here to Bolivia from Puerto Suárez. In terms of taking advantage of an infrastructure (railroad) that has been here unused for more than 3 years and a mass transport method that has always been available and now in this administration we want to use it to optimize costs and massively supply this fuel," he explained.
Likewise, he reported that the fuel will be transferred to the YPFB Logística storage plant at the Guillermo Elder Bell Refinery in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. There, the corresponding verifications will be carried out, the content of the tanks will be certified, and subsequently the fuel will go to the commercial area for distribution to service stations in the city and provinces.
YPFB stated that the reactivation of this route is part of the measures implemented to ensure continuous fuel supply and consolidate a more efficient and resilient logistics network for the benefit of the Bolivian population.
