International Energy Law - Bolivia/Brazil Pipeline
We are outside counsel to Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) with respect to all aspects of YPFB's participation, principally as shipper, in the Bolivia/Brazil pipeline project. Though YPFB is technically still the owner of the Bolivian portion of the pipeline, the owners will soon be Gas Transboliviano S.A. (GTB), a Bolivian company owned primarily by Royal Dutch Shell and Enron.
Documentation of the various arrangements between and among YPFB, GTB, Petrobras, and the transporter in Brazil has involved us in reviewing, analyzing, negotiating, and drafting an impressive array of project documents, including three gas transportation agreements, three "payment" or funding agreements, revisions to the pertinent gas supply agreement, back-to-back contracts with Bolivian producers, compression agreements, interconnect agreements, operational balancing agreements, a turnkey EPC, an advance payment agreement, a joint venture shareholders agreement, assignment and assumption agreements, nomination and scheduling procedures, and various consent, invoicing, and payment arrangements. The project is massive, and the documentation is equally so.