On Tuesday, Bolivian President Luis Arce met with the CEO of Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil giant, during a break at the Amazon Rainforest Summit held in Belém, Brazil. Brazil's top energy official stated that the country has a strong interest in Bolivia's lithium-rich salt flats and is eyeing investment in industrial-scale projects.
Lithium is the most reactive metal among all known elements, including radioactive ones. With the rapid development of the electronics and new energy vehicle industries, demand for lithium has surged significantly in China and other major developed countries around the world.
Although China, Chile, and Argentina are the three countries with the largest lithium carbonate production capacity, meeting over 90% of the global demand, they pale in comparison to Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni in South America, which, according to data from the United States Geological Survey, contains almost half of the world's lithium reserves. If Bolivia fully exploits its lithium mine resources, it could rival the oil giants of the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, in terms of wealth.
The focus of the Amazon Rainforest Summit was to evaluate projects involving crude oil and natural gas, fertilizers, and energy transition, with energy transition projects sometimes referring to projects involving critical battery metals like lithium.
Although Bolivia has an abundance of lithium resources in its vast salt flats, its collaboration with global battery giants such as CATL is still in the early stages, and the country has yet to transform this reserve potential into commercial-scale production.
Franklin Molina, Bolivian Energy Minister, stated that Petrobras has shown interest in countries transitioning towards electric vehicles and battery production, and is motivated by the country's industrialization projects. A few weeks later, a senior delegation from Petrobras, focusing on natural gas projects, will travel to Bolivia.
Molina asserted that Petrobras is interested in investing in Bolivia's natural gas, not only discussing the continuity of exporting natural gas to Brazil but also prepared to invest in developing new exploration projects to increase natural gas exports to Brazil. Natural gas is Bolivia’s primary fossil fuel business.
