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It was launched under former President Ollanta reach many remote areas, and officials in Lima
Humala, and is subsidised by the government’s have said that the massification programme will
Fondo de Inclusión Social Energético, a social cover this gap by providing for deliveries of LPG
energy inclusion fund. by truck.
The programme aims to develop gas distri- The programme also includes the $6bn
bution infrastructure in seven regions of Peru Gasoducto Sur Peruano (GSP) pipeline, which
– Apurímac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junín, will transport gas to the rapidly modernising
Cusco, Puno and Ucayali. It is designed to sup- industrial heartlands in the southern part of the
ply 1mn residents of these regions with gas, par- country. The link will have an initial capacity of
ticularly those living in the most impoverished 500mn cubic feet (14.2mn cubic metres) per
communities. day, which could then rise to 800 mmcf (22.7mn
Traditionally, gas distribution concessions cubic metres) per day.
in the seven regions named above have been Once operational, GSP is set to become Peru’s
controlled by various companies, including Gas second-biggest pipeline. Work on the pipeline
Natural de Lima y Callao, Contugas, Gases del has fallen behind schedule, part because of its
Pacífico and Gas Natural Fenosa Peru, the local association with the Brazilian construction firm
subsidiary of Spain’s Naturgy. Odebrecht, which has been embroiled in a cor-
These companies’ pipeline networks do not ruption scandal. ™

ECUADOR
Petroamazonas scales back drilling

programme to battle COVID-19

PETROAMAZONAS, a state-owned oil oper- operations,” said Juan Carlos Bermeo, the gen-
ator in Ecuador, announced on July 29 that it eral manager of Petroamazonas. Bermeo also
intended to scale back drilling operations at called on other state-owned businesses involved
Block 43, also known as ITT, by 30%. in the oil and gas industry to take similar meas-
In a statement, the company said that drill- ures, urging them to pursue a course that “pri-
ing activity would remain at the lower level for a oritises the integrity of workers.”
period of 45 days. It explained that it had taken The company said in its statement that it
this step in the hope of reining in the coronavi- would use the 45-day slowdown to sanitise all
rus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has hit the work areas at ITT. It did not reveal any details
South American country hard. of its plans.
“We have made this decision in order to pre- The ITT block is located in Ecuador’s Orel-
serve not just the health of our employees and lana Province. It encompasses the Ishpingo,
contractors, but also, first of all, that of the com- Tambacocha and Tiputini oilfields and contains
munities in surrounding areas affected by our about 1.672bn barrels of crude oil.

The block includes the Ishpingo, Tambacocha and Tiputini oilfields (Image: El Comercio)

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 30•July•2020