Concurrent with the import relief, the decree instructs the Ministry of Hydrocarbons and Energy and the National Hydrocarbons Agency to draft technical standards enabling service stations to dispense ethanol to flex-fuel vehicles within 60 calendar days. Dispensing infrastructure requires dedicated pumps and compliance with the B-SISA traceability system, which cross-references fuel sales against the national vehicle registry to verify technology compatibility.
Bolivia imports 60 percent of its gasoline and 95 percent of its diesel, spending approximately 90 million dollars per week on fuel purchases that deplete foreign exchange reserves. Weekly import costs reached 1.128 billion dollars by June 2026, according to the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance. Domestic ethanol production, derived predominantly from sugarcane grown in Santa Cruz, has operated below contractual capacity since state oil company YPFB launched the blending program in 2018. Producers have repeatedly protested that YPFB purchases fall short of agreed volumes and that the ethanol share in gasoline remains capped at 12 percent despite Law 1098 authorizing blends up to 25 percent.
Each liter of ethanol consumed in flex-fuel vehicles reduces import requirements and adds incremental demand beyond the fixed blending quota, providing relief for mills constrained by limited offtake. YPFB will install ethanol dispensers at its stations. The policy shift unfolds as President Rodrigo Paz’s administration confronts prolonged fuel shortages that produce multi-day queues at pumps. Paz ordered a 180-day intervention of YPFB on September 3, directing the state company to exit fuel commercialization and focus on exploration and refining, while private firms handle distribution.
This article was curated and published as part of our South American energy market coverage.
