In the midst of the pandemic in Bolivia, hundreds of people queued today on the street waiting for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), after the main supplier plant in the cities of La Paz and El Alto had distribution failures for a “Massive spread” of coronavirus among its staff.
“The drop in production and subsequent shortage of LPG was taken into account and, in compliance with its duties, information was requested from YPFB (state company) about the situation and it reported an unexpected impossibility at the Senkata plant, due to a massive spread of Covid-19 in the operators responsible for the entanglement, ”reported the National Hydrocarbons Agency, and the newspaper Página Siete replied.
Likewise, from Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) they assured that the distribution in the cities of La Paz and El Alto, which concentrate almost two million inhabitants, will “gradually normalize”.
However, since Monday, when the trucks stopped leaving the Senkata plant, located in El Alto, a neighboring city of La Paz, citizens seem to have forgotten the risk of the coronavirus pandemic, which in Bolivia exceeds 72,300 infections. and the 2,700 deceased.
Despite the fragile hospital situation and the increasing number of infections, many people walked the streets to get gas.
The despair generated by the shortage of hydrocarbons for domestic use is greater in neighborhoods without a home connection to natural gas, where the crowds of people with jugs in hand are more extensive, or among the owners of small food stands along the way.
The discomfort from the lack of LPG was also seen at the door of the plant, where citizens blocked the entrance while waiting for a truck.
In recent years, and especially after the nationalization of the natural resource, Bolivia went from being an importer of liquefied petroleum gas to becoming the largest LPG exporter to the neighboring countries of Paraguay and Peru, with 94% of its total foreign sales. , according to a YPFB post earlier this year.
It was also reported that in 2019, sales abroad of the fuel generated $ 44.4 million.
