Bolivia and Brazil build plant

The state-owned oil companies of Brazil and Bolivia are expected to finalise a deal soon to build a $1.5 billion petrochemical complex along their border.

Andres Soliz, Bolivia's hydrocarbons minister, says the plant would be built in the city of Puerto Suarez next to the Brazilian border in an area known as the Pantanal, the world's largest marshlands.

Brazilian oil company Petrobras and Bolivia's Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, (YPFB) are expected to make an official announcement within days.

Soliz says the Bolivian government also expects to finish renegotiating contracts before June with the multinational companies that have been extracting natural gas since mid-1990s privatisation left YPFB without an active role in oil exploration and production.