Losses of US$335 million if for Camisea

shirt It is the main source of energy in Peru. It is not only responsible for providing natural gas through pipelines to Lima (48% of the GDP country) and Ica, as well as to seven other regions by tanker truck, but it accounts for almost 40% of the national electricity generation and collects US$2.5 million a day in taxes for its exports.

The threat that is spreading these days over the entire pipeline managed by TGP and its compression plants, not counting Malvinas de pluspetrol, This represents a tough situation for an administration that has just reinstated the engineer Enrique Bisetti in the Vice Ministry of Hydrocarbons, due to an announced escalation of the conflict after the seizure of the kamani plantwhich to this day is still occupied, although unscathed.

The former manager of Economic Studies of osinergmin Arturo Vásquez estimates in, at least US$335 million in daily losses for the country in the event that the supply of Camisea is completely paralyzed, being affected, mainly, the downstream sectors of electricity and gas, as well as the energy-intensive industry.

Camisea is part of the calls National Critical Assets (ACN), group that includes the Mantaro Hydroelectric, the North Peruvian Oil Pipeline, the Talara Refinery and the South Thermoelectric Node, among others. Precisely, the latter would be responsible for providing the market with electricity from diesel in the event that Camisea stopped.

But it would not be enough for more than 15 days. According to Vásquez Cordano, this scenario would come at a time when the value of electricity has fallen to US$30 MWh, the level prior to the crisis. For this reason, he confirms that a failure in the compressors would cause a domino effect not only on households that consume natural gas or LPG, rather, it would have a direct impact on thermal generation and electricity prices.

“The cold reserve has availability for gas residual for 15 days and then we will have to see how to get more fuel, which in itself is already difficult to carry due to the blockades”, he warns.

Camisea and the importance of gas in Peru

The company Quavii reported that, in the coming days, there could be a shortage in La Libertad, Lambayeque, Áncash and Cajamarca, due to the fact that they would restrict the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to their coverage area, harming more than 800,000 Peruvians.

80% of the LPG in Peru is produced from Camisea natural gas liquids. Eight out of ten households use it for cooking.

Protests have also reached other key gas transportation plants. One of them is the Chiquintirca compressor, located in Ayacucho.