BL–6. Memorandum of Conversation of the Executive Counselor of the Embassy in Bolivia (Breaux)1
PARTICIPANTS
- Vice President Nixon
- Mr. Rubottom
- Mr. Waugh
- Ambassador Bonsal
- Clarence [illegible in the original], Economic Counselor
- Ing. Eduardo Hinojosa, General Manager, YPFB
- Ing. Enrique [illegible in the original], Production Manager, YFPB
- Dr. Eduardo [illegible in the original], Exploration Manager, YFPB
- Ing. Rafeal [illegible in the original], Refinery and Pipeline Manager, YFPB
- Mr. Luis K. [illegible in the original], Public Relations, YFPB
- By [illegible in the original] of a graph2 (translated to tabular form)
| Investment (Million $) | Production (Thousands Barrels per Day) | |
| 1952 | 5.2 | - |
| 1953 | 6.2 | 1.6 |
| 1954 | 6.0 | 4.6 |
| 1955 | 11.0 | 7.3 |
| 1956 | 12.2 | 8.7 |
| 1957 | 9.3 | 9.8 |
| 1958 | 6.0 (Estimated) | 7.8 (Estimated) |
Mr. Hinojosa showed that YFPB’s production has declined in the past few years because its investment expenditures have decreased for lack of funds, and that if additional funds are not forthcoming Bolivia may soon find itself again in the position of being a petroleum importing country. He asked if a loan might not be obtained from United States institutions.
The Vice President said he understood that YFPB was an efficient organization and he recognized YFPB’s needs; however, the U.S. policy was not to lend in fields, such as petroleum, where private capital was willing and able to operate. Mr. Hinojosa explained that YFPB was different from oil monopolies in other countries in that it did not monopolize the industry but allowed private firms to operate also. However, the Vice President said that if an exception could be made, YFPB would indeed appear to deserve such exception, but that unfortunately this was not possible.
In answer to the Vice President’s question whether YFPB had tried to obtain capital from private sources, Mr. Hinojosa said that he had tried several times but unsuccessfully.
The Vice President then directed Mr. Rubottom to see in what ways the U.S. could further assist the general Bolivian budget so that the [illegible in the original] could find itself better able to assign funds to YPFB. He also directed Mr. Waugh to see if he could interest private sources in the U.S. to help YFPB (a suggestion advanced by Mr. Waugh.)