In the province of Tarija stands a range of forested razor-backed hills, resembling frozen ripples in the earth's crust. About 6km (four miles) beneath their surface lie huge reservoirs of natural gas, discovered as a result of the investment of more than $2.5 billion in Bolivia's oil and gas industry since its privatisation in 1997. President Jorge Quiroga believes that the gas can transform South America's poorest country. But in neighbouring Peru the government has similar ideas. And it is not clear that both will find buyers. Bolivia started exporting small quantities of gas to Argentina in the 1970s. But in 1999, a 1,800 km pipeline from Santa Cruz province to Sao Paulo, Brazil's industrial capital, was completed. When Brazil agreed on the project in 1996, its demand for gas was unclear and Bolivia's reserves were insufficient even for it to fulfil the 20-year contract. Now, Brazil's demand for gas has grown, so it would like to double the volumes going along the pipeline by 2004. And Bolivia's reserves have expanded tenfold since 1996.
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