Letter from South America: Bolivia's shrinking gas role

Declining production and cheaper LNG threaten the country’s role as gas supplier to its neighbours

Bolivia is a land of contrasts. The country encompasses dense Amazon rainforest, fertile plains, soaring Andes mountains and the second-highest altiplano in the world behind the Tibetan plateau. And yet the country is landlocked, with no access to the Pacific Ocean since the end of the Saltpeter War in 1884. It has struggled with a long history of pendulum swings between military dictatorships and socialist elected governments. The administrative capital of La Paz looks and feels very much like a city built in a crater on Mars, both in terms of aesthetics and lack of oxygen. Doing business in the country, especially in the energy sector, can sometimes feel like doing business on Mars as well