The Bolivian government orders the intervention of the state oil company due to the fuel crisis

The document, dated Tuesday and released this Wednesday, provides for the “extraordinary, transparent and temporary” intervention of YPFB, with the objective of “protecting the interests of the State” and recovering the “efficiency of the operational and administrative management” of the company.

According to the announcement by the center-right government of Rodrigo Paz, the measure will initially last 180 days, with the priority of reestablishing the logistics chain and fuel distribution amid a serious shortage that has lasted for months and has caused strong protests.

The decree released this Wednesday specifies that, “exceptionally”, the Minister of Hydrocarbons and Energy, by Ministerial Resolution, may extend the duration of the intervention “if the reasons that motivated it persist.”

The intervention, the measure emphasizes, “does not imply the elimination of YPFB, nor the modification of its legal nature or structure, as established by current regulations.”

The commission in charge of supervising the state company will be made up of the ministers of Economy and Public Finance; of Sustainable Production, Environment and Water; Hydrocarbons and Energy; of Public Works, Services and Housing; or their representatives.

The supply of fuel has become the main obstacle of the administration of Rodrigo Paz, who came to power in November 2025 with the promise of solving this problem that not only causes enormous discomfort to drivers but also drives up prices in general.

Last week, an Executive rule doubled the price of diesel up to 1.5 dollars per liter to prevent it from being used for smuggling, which the government points out as the cause of the current shortage.

The measure was rejected by farmers who started roadblocks in the departments of Beni (north) and Santa Cruz (east), despite the fact that a state of exception is still in force that served the government to extinguish the wave of protests against the economic crisis that paralyzed the country between May and June.

Bolivia imports 60% of the gasoline and 95% of the diesel it consumes, with a weekly expense of about 90 million dollars.

In December, Paz eliminated fuel subsidiesan emblematic policy of the socialist governments of Evo Morales (2006-2019) and Luis Arce (2020-2025) that triggered the country’s worst economic crisis in four decades.

It depleted foreign currency reserves and ended up complicating the continuity of imports of the same fuels that were subsidized.

But even though he announced that this would end the long waiting lines at service stations, where drivers sometimes had to sleep in their vehicles, the shortage was not solved.