Mario Ballivián C.
Partner
Mario is a lawyer with more than 20 years of professional experience, during which he had the opportunity to be at the center of complex negotiations and contracts, law and regulations and big ticket projects in both the private and public sectors, which has allowed him to have an integral vision of the matters
- As Legal Manager of the Repsol Bolivia Group, the most important consortium of companies in the oil sector, negotiated and drafted the transfer agreements of Empresa Petrolera Andina S.A. (currently YPFB Andina S.A.) to YPFB as a result of the nationalization of the hydrocarbon sector. He was also responsible for carrying out all the acts and contracts for the closure of the Pacific LNG project, by mandate of Repsol Bolivia, BG Bolivia and PanAmerican Energy.
- In charge of the Legal Department of YPFB Andina S.A., he coordinated and guided the renegotiation of complex joint operation agreements, as well as sales, transportation, interconnection, compression, etc. of gas and oil with YPFB, Repsol Bolivia, Total Bolivia and Petrobras Bolivia.
- As Principal Legal Advisor at the Bolivian Regulatory System (SIRESE), he negotiated and drafted different laws, including the Competition Law, Consumer Defense Law, Hydrocarbons Law, Commercial Code, among others.
- He was the General Coordinator for the establishment of SIRESE in Bolivia, and member of the negotiating team in the Free Trade Agreement between the Andean Community and the United States as the Coordinator of the Competition Policy Unit.
- He is an arbitrator registered in the Centre of Arbitration and Conciliation of the National Chamber of Commerce in La Paz – Bolivia, and in the Center of Conciliation and Arbitration of the Commerce and Services Chamber in Cochabamba – Bolivia.
- Corporate Law
- Corporate Compliance
- Hydrocarbons and Energy Law.
- Regulatory and Competition Law.
- Consumer Law
- Arbitration and Alternative Dispute Resolution.
- Public Concessions and Public Private Partnerships
- Spanish
- English
- Law Degree from the Universidad de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca, Bolivia, 1991.
- Master in Regulation from the London School of Economics (LSE), England, 1998
- Master in Petroleum Law and Policy from the University of Dundee, Scotland, 2007.
- Santa Cruz Bar Association.
- La Paz Bar Association.
- Bolivia Public Register of Lawyers.
- Vice-president of the Energy and Environmental Commission of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – Bolivian Chapter.
- Secretary of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) – Bolivian Chapter.
- Certified internal auditor ISO 9001 and ISO 14001
Associate professor at different master’s degree programs in subjects related to legal and contractual framework in the petroleum sector, as well as regulatory and competition law. He has been distinguished as the “Best Professor of the Masters of Corporate Law” in the Master’s for Development (MpD) of the Universidad Católica Boliviana (UCB). He speaks regularly at both domestic and international conferences on issues of petroleum law and contracts, as well as regulatory and competition law.