Page 7 - LatAmOil Week 50 2019

LatAmOil P E R U LatAmOil
Peruvian oil production hits five-year high in November
CRUDE oil production in Peru hit its highest level in five years in November, according to new statistics from the Peruvian Oil and Gas Associ- ation (known as SPH).
The group said that oil production had aver- aged 63,738 barrels per day (bpd) last month, 31% higher than in the same month of 2018, according to a report by Agencia Peruana de Noticias. Output was also 7,694 bpd higher than in the previous month, the report added, citing statistics from state-owned oil and gas company Perupetro.
The November increase was down to higher production in the Amazon’s Loreto block and in the Tumbes Basin offshore Peru, SPH said.
The result is “positive news” that brings the country closer to the government’s production target of 100,000 bpd, SPH said. “It demonstrates how important it is to encourage the production of blocks located in the jungle, and for this the operation of the North Peruvian Pipeline is essential, as well as facilitating investments in the north coast of the country,” it commented.
Although the country has proven oil and gas reserves, both in the north-west and in the jun- gle, Peru still imports about US$5bn worth of fuel each year, it added.
Petroperu is currently modernising the North Peruvian Pipeline, known locally as the Oleoducto Nor Peruano (ONP), so that it can
transport more heavy oil. The link has been closed since February 2016 because of leaks, after the Supervisory Agency for Investment in Energy and Mining of Peru (OSINERGMIN) ordered that it be shut down. Operations at Block 192, one of the country’s largest blocks, have had to be suspended several times because of the pipeline closure.
The pipeline, which came online in the 1970s to transport light crude oil, is no longer suitable because the quality of crude produced in Peru has declined in the last few decades, according to Petroperu. The conduit handles oil extracted from fields in the Peruvian jungle along an 854- km route to the port of Bayovar in the north.™
Petroperu is currently modernising the ONP system (Image: Gov’t of Peru)
Peru LNG reports exports down year on year in November
PERU LNG, a consortium that operates a gas liquefaction plant and export terminal in Pampa Melchorita, saw export volumes decline year on year in the month of November.
According to data published earlier this week by the national oil company (NOC) Perupetro, Peru LNG loaded four vessels with 635,758 cubic metres of LNG last month. This marked a 27.3% decline in volume on loadings in November 2018, when the group exported some 874,706 cubic metres of LNG.
Total export volumes also went down month on month. According to previously released data, Peru LNG loaded five vessels with 805,906 cubic metres of LNG in October 2019. As a result, exports dropped by about 21.1% on the previous month’s level.
The Peru LNG terminal has loaded and dis- patched a total of 546 cargoes of LNG since its launch in June 2010.
Of the four cargoes dispatched in November 2019, one went to Japan, one went to the Grain LNG terminal in the UK and two went to the Dunkirk LNG terminal in France.
The Peru LNG consortium, which was estab- lished by the US company Hunt Oil with three partners, spent $3.8bn on the construction of the Pampa Melchorita facility. The complex has a 4.45mn tonne per year (tpy) gas liquefaction plant, constructed by Chicago Bridge & Iron (CBI), and a marine terminal, built by a consor- tium known as CDB. (This group includes Italy’s Saipem, Luxembourg’s Jan de Nul and Brazil’s Odebrecht.)

Week 50 19•December•2019 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m
P7