Bolivia nationalizes subsidiary of British Petroleum

[Judi Lynn]

Bolivia nationalizes subsidiary of British Petroleum
Business News
May 1, 2009, 20:10 GMT

La Paz - Bolivian President Evo Morales on Friday announced the nationalization of Air BP, a subsidiary of British Petroleum.

Air BP has British and Spanish capital and sells fuel for commercial aviation, Bolivia's Energy Ministry said. It is headquartered in the southern Bolivian city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.

Morales' left-wing populist government, which has been in power since January 2006, nationalized the country's oil and gas reserves in its first year in office, benefiting from the income gained from the export of natural gas to Brazil and Argentina.

It also nationalized refineries in the cities of Cochabamba and Santa Cruz, which had until then been managed by Brazil's state-owned energy giant Petrobras.

Last year, Morales nationalized Transredes, a former subsidiary of US giant Enron that was in the business of transporting oil and gas.

'Now the energy production chain is in the hands of the Bolivian government,' Morales said at a May Day event in La Paz's Plaza Murillo.

He said that he would not relent until he achieved 'power for the people.'

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