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Talara: production and investments stagnant 30 years later

Talara: production and investments stagnant 30 years later

One of the cornerstones for the privatization of the oil lots it was the increase in existing reserves and production through private investment and the flow of capital to fields that, at their peak, yielded 187,000 barrels per day (bpd) nationwide. None of this has happened thirty years later, and in the case of Talara, close to being reverted to the State, production has stagnated at the expense of meager investments that have only served to drain every last drop of crude.

Since then, the results of national production they have not been encouraging at all. It dropped from an average of 115,000 bpd in 1992 to the 40,538 bpd reported by Perupetro in 2022, due to a range of factors: reserve replacement, conflict, lack of confidence for investments, etc.

In the case of talara, where the promise three decades ago was to multiply production, increase reserves, bring technology and guarantee the welfare of workers, yields have frozen in the order of 35,000 bpd, thousands more, thousands less, while international oil prices, each year, they continued their ascent. The needle that has moved in the northwest is investment in exploration, but downwards.

An investigation by Jorge Manco Zaconetti, professor at UNMSM, shows that the annual average of investments in Lot Xthe largest in the basin, has not meant more than US$59 million between 1997 and 2021. In exchange, US$6.8230 million in net income has been obtained for the three companies that have laid out their networks, 1,347 development wells to take advantage of the reserves left by Petroperuand a single exploratory well, that is, risk.

At the time, it was estimated that the Talara Refinery would generate up to four times more profits for Petroperú than before.  Photo: diffusion

At the time, it was estimated that the Talara Refinery would generate up to four times more profits for Petroperú than before. Photo: diffusion

The only well that “served” the company, he explains one-armedto justify the extraction of 114 million barrels between 1997 and 2021 and leave 52 million in reserves today despite the fact that in the privatization it was said that it had no more than 40 million left (marginal lot).

The Northwest Route

A separate issue for Block Z2-B, where the production of Petroperú’s offshore platforms, operated today by Savia, went from 19,599 bpd at the time of delivery to Petrotech in 1994. to 6,210 bpd in 2020.

In the zócalo, an annual investment average of only US$46 million was registered, while reserves went from 77 million barrels to less than 21 million in 2021. Here there were 187 development wells and 24 exploration wells. However, 120 million barrels of the proven and probable reserves left by the subsidiary of PetroPeruPetromar.

Manco estimates the historical production value of Block Z2-B at US$5,894 million. Added to the US$6.8230 million of Block X, a profit for both operators of at least US$12.724 million is obtained, translated into expenditures for Petroperú, the central buyer of these barrels in the area.

The specialist assures that, with a value of US$70 per barrel, there are US$6,828 million of proven reserves at stake in the 7 lots whose contracts are about to expire. At the moment, there is a bid between defenders of this model of extractivism and those who demand the reversal, but it will be the government of the president boluarte the one with the last word.

Petroperú and an imperious return to the Talara lots

Petroperú is the natural buyer of barrels in the Talara basin. The privatization business was stripping him of the lots to later sell him the oil that was his before, explains Manco.

Minem and Perupetro have guaranteed that blocks I, VII (will be divided from VI), Z2B and X will return to Petroperu. However, the decree that had been anticipated for last week by Minem is missing.

Since the 1990s, Petroperú has paid US$22,311 million for Peruvian oil at international prices, three times what was invested in the Talara Refinery.

The investments to enter Talara could be financed with the sale of rawnot so exploration, where Petroperú would require a partner.

figures

US$80 is the value of a barrel of oil these daysaccording to the WTI score.

52% of the production of Petroleum in Peru it is found in Talara.

Infographic - The Republic

Infographic – The Republic

Source: Larepublica

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