Bolivia will build ecological diesel and biodiesel plants to reduce imports of liquid fuels. The official underlined that the goal was to further the industrialization process in order to, in turn, cut down both foreign trade expenditures and state subsidies. It is estimated Bolivia will spend between 1,000 and 1,200 million US dollars importing diesel in 2021 for domestic supply. The ultimate target is to make way for the yielding of second-generation biofuels out of both urban waste and produce, added Molina, who also released details that indicated the biodiesel plant would start operations sometime in 2024 and its construction will cost around 279 million US dollars.
Of the total 279 million dollars, 18 million are to be disbursed for the pre-investment phase the execution stage of the project would require the additional 261 million, according to Molina and the state-owned Yacimientos Petrolifos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB). The objective is to achieve the substitution of diesel imports through alternative processes for the production of first-generation biodiesel, ecological diesel and even maximize other contiguous processes such as the use of LNG that will allow the replacement of 2,800 barrels of diesel per day in the thermoelectric sector plant and other activities. Bolivia needs this type of project because it helps the energy matrix become cleaner and it will benefit countless micro-enterprises that will start a process of collecting animal fat and edible oil which is presently disposed of thus becoming an environmental liability.