Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 31 2021

COMMENTARY Y
LatAmOil COMMENTAR LatAmOil

(Photo: Twitter/@PedroCastilloTe)
Castillo begins to reveal

new vision for PetroPerú

Peru’s new president wants the national oil company to expand its portfolio and gain

control over fuel prices but says it must compete against private sector operators

PEDRO Castillo, the new president of Peru, located in Pampa Melchorita.
ran for office on a platform that called for major Even so, Castillo’s position is hardly surpris-
WHAT: changes in the country’s hydrocarbon sector. ing. After all, he was the candidate of the left-
The president wants the Most significantly, he indicated that he ist Peru Libre Party, which has been calling for
NOC to regain some of the favoured proposals for returning oil and gas – nationalisation of the hydrocarbon and mining
assets it lost to privatisa- along with mining, another key sector of the industries since 2019.
tion in the 1990s. economy – to state control. Earlier this year, for At this point, though, it’s not clear that
example, he argued that the Camisea gas fields the new president will actually push for full
WHY: ought to be handed over to the government. nationalisation.
Making this shift may More specifically, he told supporters that the
involve constitutional fields were a strategic resource that ought to be Expanding PetroPerú
reforms. nationalised so that they could benefit Peruvians Castillo made his first official statements regard-
rather than foreign investors. ing oil and gas policy on July 28, during his inau-
WHAT NEXT: Such a shift could have far-reaching effects, gural address.
The changes may not including but not limited to complicating rela- In that speech, he said he intended to restore
have long-term staying tionships with foreign investors. The Camisea the ability of PetroPerú, the national oil com-
power, giving Peru’s con-
tentious political climate fields are being developed by a consortium pany (NOC), to act as a vertically integrated
and Castillo’s plan to that includes US-based Hunt Oil, which is also organisation, active in every section of the
serve one five-year term. the leader of the Peru LNG project; they sup- value chain and possessing wellhead-to-pump
ply feedstock to the Peru LNG plant, which is capabilities.

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 31 05•August•2021