Damage to natural gas valves in Bolivia's Margarita field have reduced deliveries to Argentina, state-owned YPFB President Carlos Villegas said in a report published Friday by state-run newspaper Cambio.
As of May 3, the dispatch to Argentina averaged 8.8 million cubic meters/day, down from around 10 million cu m/d from July 2011, when the Juana Azurduy pipeline was inaugurated.
Brazil, the larger of Bolivia's two gas export markets, as of May 3 received 31 million cu m/d, Cambio added.
Repairs are going ahead and deliveries to both neighbors will increase this month as demand rises for the Southern Hemisphere winter, Villegas said.
"Argentina starting May 16 will receive 11.6 million cu m/d, Brazil will receive 31.5, and the internal market will have 10 million," he said.
That figure remains slightly below the contracted 11.9 million cu m/d that will be reached once repairs are completed.
