Total, Gazprom join forces on natural gas in Bolivia

France’s Total and Russia’s Gazprom are joining forces to exploit two field areas in Bolivia, the head of Bolivia’s state oil and gas firm YPFB said Monday.

YPFB chief Carlos Villegas said Total and Gazprom would join a consortium set to exploit oilfields in Aquio, in the southeast and Ipati in the east.

Total will have a 50-percent stake in the operation; Gazprom 20 percent; YPFB 10 percent; and an Italo-Argentine group Tecpetrol will have 20 percent, Villegas said.

Bolivia is a leading natural gas supplier to neighboring Brazil and Argentina.