Brazil and Bolivia were set to restart negotiations early next month over the crisis surrounding the ownership of the two countries' refineries, the Brazilian Energy Ministry said on Tuesday.

The South American nations had agreed to resume the stalled talks over the row over their state-owned energy companies -- YPFB of Bolivia and Petrobras of Brazil -- on Oct. 9 in the Bolivian capital of La Paz, the ministry said.

Brazilian Mining and Energy Minister Silas Rondeau suggested the date for the fresh talks.

The move follows the scrapping of a meeting scheduled for Sept.15 amid claims by the Bolivian government of control over Petrobras's refineries in its country. The Brazilian company's oil and gas refineries are responsible for 90 percent of Bolivia's fuel supply.

But Petrobras Director of Finance Almir Barbassa hoped that the replacement of former Bolivian energy chief Andres Soliz Rada would now mean the problems surrounding the issue could be solved more easily.

Soliz Rada, who issued a decree that the YPFB would take over Petrobras refineries in Bolivia, resigned shortly after President Evo Morales suspended the resolution.

Barbassa added that the fall in the international price for natural gas would also make negotiations easier for the Brazilian side.

Since Bolivia's nationalization of oil and gas resources in May, Petrobras has been defying requests from the Morales government to raise the price of natural gas provided by Bolivia to Brazil.

"Their point gets weaker now because the international price for natural gas has become lower than the one we pay," Barbassa said.

(Xinhua News Agency September 27, 2006)