For some of you who regularly read this blog, you may want to file this note under “Gazprom – Preemption” – because it’s a topic we have seen come up time and time again.

We have written quite a bit in this space about Russia’s energy interests in Bolivia, but I find it particularly interesting to the note the devastating timing of the latest announcement that they are forming a new $4.5 billion joint venture in the tumultuous Andean country with Total and Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), the state-held entity.

You see, what is extraordinary about this major energy deal is that Gazprom is pushing it through at precisely at a time in which nearly any other rational minded foreign investor would be running for the hills. Bolivia is the midst of one of President Evo Morales’s biggest political crises (and there have been many), as an arrest warrant was issued for Governor Leopoldo Fernandez of the Pando region following weeks of riots between pro-government supporters and opponents resulting in up to 18 deaths and hundreds of wounded. Although crisis talks are now underway between government and opposition, many believe that President Morales is facing a “brewing civil war.”

This is a classic example of a Gazprom business announcement which demonstrates the value of what I call “political currency.”

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