Compared Study of Bolivia, Peru and Venezuela's Legal Framework on Natural Gas (Upstream Activities)

The following paper provides, from a legal point of view, a compared study of upstream activities in the legal regimes on gaseous hydrocarbons of Venezuela (152.32 TCF),1 Bolivia (26.122 TCF)2 and Peru (11.473 TCF),3 countries located in first, second and fifth place in natural gas proven reserves in Latin America, respectively.4

Clear game rules and governmental policies that stimulate foreign investment are variables considered by investors when deciding to contribute with resources and technology in a certain project and especially in those countries of frequent legislative mutability. In case of exploration and production projects (E&P) (upstream) of non-associated natural gas, since they are businesses that imply high investments, intensive payments made in the first years of the project and whose return of the investment occurs in the medium and long term, investors tend to analyze the investment taking into account diverse aspects. One of these [19-2] aspects is the existence of clear and stable game rules during the life of the project.

In this sense, we must remember that in the nineties, laws oriented to regulate the activities of the industry of the natural gas were enacted in most of the South American countries (such as Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Peru), whose main purpose were to obtain the development of the national industry by at