Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 06 2023

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It is also lower than the figure reported for Jan- Nul and Brazil’s Odebrecht.) The complex also
uary 2022, when Peru LNG loaded six cargoes includes a storage depot with two 130,000-cubic
with 425,186 tonnes of LNG. metre tanks and a 34-inch (860-mm) natural gas
Four of the five cargoes dispatched in January pipeline. This pipe handles gas from fields in the
2023 were destined for Japan or South Korea, Cusco region that are being developed by YPF,
according to Perupetro, while the fifth went to Argentina’s national oil company (NOC), and
the National Balancing Point (NBP) in the UK. Repsol (Spain). It follows a 408-km route from
Peru LNG loaded and delivered a total of 702 Chiquintirca, a town in Peru’s Ayacucho region,
cargoes of LNG between its launch in June 2010 to the LNG plant.
and the end of November 2022. Peru LNG was established by US-based Hunt
The consortium operates a complex that Oil along with three other companies. Equity in
includes a 4.45mn tonne per year (tpy) gas lique- the project is divided between Hunt Oil, with
faction plant built by Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. 50%; SK Energy (South Korea), 20%; Shell
(CBI), as well as a marine terminal constructed (UK), 20% and Marubeni (Japan), 10%. The
by a consortium known as CDB. (This group partners invested $3.8bn in the construction of
includes Italy’s Saipem, Luxemburg’s Jan de the Pampa Melchorita complex. ™

Perupetro ready to negotiate directly with

investors for 31 new exploration licences

PERU’S national oil and gas concessionaire In related news, Peru’s Vice Energy Minister
Perupetro revealed on February 2 that it had Enrique Bisetti said at the same presentation
opened up 31 new exploration licences for in Houston on February 2 that Petroperu, the
investment and was prepared to negotiate national oil company (NOC), was on track to
directly with prospective partners. wrap up negotiations on a contract for a site
Fernando Ruiz Lecaros, a member of Peru- known as Block 192 within a few months.
petro’s board of directors, told investors in Hou- The field has been off line since 2020, but
ston that the new licence areas were located Bisetti said that a deal might allow oil produc-
within the Madre de Dios, Maranon, Salaverry, tion to resume as early as next year. He did not
Tumbes and Uyucali basins. He did not identify comment on whether Petroperu could guaran-
them by name but said that his company was tee the smooth functioning of the Norperuano
looking to negotiate two-year technical evalu- pipeline, which carries oil from Block 192. The
ation deals with outside investors. pipeline’s operations have been halted a number
These agreements will give their holders the of times in recent months due to protests and
right to negotiate full exploration licences after other disruptions.
two years, Ruiz noted. The deputy minister stated that these protests
The board member also stressed that Peru- had not affected Peruvian oil and gas produc-
petro wanted to enter into discussions with tion, even though they have brought output
potential investors directly rather than holding down slightly in the mining sector. He also
a licensing round or some sort of competitive expressed concern about the demonstrations,
tender. He did not explain why Lima had opted saying: “Reducing social conflict is one of our
for this approach, though Reuters noted that largest challenges,” he observed. ™
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte was seeking
to lower the barriers to investment in the hope
that new exploration might help Peru expand its
hydrocarbon reserves.
In any event, Ruiz said he expected the new
initiative to be successful. Thus far, he noted,
several international oil companies (IOCs) –
including China National Petroleum Corp.
(CNPC), US-based Jaguar Exploration and
Canada’s PetroTal – have asked to sign techni-
cal agreements for one or more of the blocks
on offer. “Due to higher oil and gas prices, we
are seeing more interest from investors in these
technical agreements,” he remarked.
He did not say which sites the three compa-
nies mentioned above were looking to evaluate. Block 1AB is part of Block 192, which has been off line since 2020 (Image: Perupetro)

Week 06 08•February•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P13