Bolivia. Brazil's Petrobras, Spain's Repsol YPF and France's Total filed a legal challenge in court to obtain the government's return of $192 million paid under the decree on the nationalization of hydrocarbons.
The newspaper La Razón indicated that the companies filed an appeal of unconstitutionality before the Constitutional Court because they consider that the collection of that money was illegal, since the decree, of May 2006, forced them to pay an additional tax of 32 million per month only for six months and not for a year.
The money corresponds to the application of a stake in favor of the state company Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) of 32% of the value of what is produced in two megafields of hydrocarbons that mainly supply the Brazilian market. The nationalization decree established that the oil companies had to initially pay for the exploitation of the San Alberto and San Antonio fields the 32 million dollars per month. (Source: AP)
