LA PAZ – Italian consulting firm Tecnimont will provide strategic services to help Bolivia develop a petrochemical project, state-owned oil company YPFB said.

YPFB CEO Carlos Villegas and Tecnimont executive Angelo Coppacchioli signed a contract Saturday covering consulting services for the propylene and polypropylene plants to be built in Bolivia, YPFB said in a statement.

“With this contract, we are taking another step toward the construction of these plants. We know Tecnimont’s work, we have no doubts about the quality of the work it is going to complete within the established timeframe,” Villegas said.

The consulting firm must complete its work in the first half of 2015.

Tecnimont will be focusing on a “very ambitious” project that could “give Bolivia a new opportunity for a very timely industrialization,” Coppacchioli said.

The petrochemical complex is to be built in the southern region of Tarija, with completion of the project slated for 2018.

The complex is expected to produce 350,000 metric tons annually of propylene and polypropylene, officials said.

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