The Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) will record this year a record figure for the South West Concession of natural gas managed by Petroperú, with a total of 12,118 connections for the regions of Arequipa, Tacna, Moquegua and Ilo. That is to say, in a single year the same progress will be made with this new massification model with the FISE that the Spanish Naturgy achieved in its four years of operation.
However, the management of Minister Óscar Vera Gargurevich has sincerely stated his initial predictions. The initial proposal that the Government took to the governors contemplated going from the current 11,392 connections to more than 36,000, with construction that was to begin in the first quarter of 2024.
Finally, on October 31, Minem launched a tender to resume laying 149.80 kilometers of networks in these four regions, with special emphasis on the White City. The winning company is PA Perú SAC, which will have a maximum budget for the execution of the gas networks of US$15 million 809,928. The works start in April.
Networks advance
The goal will no longer be tripled, but at least it will be doubled. The distribution of connections will be as follows: Arequipa (7,984), Tacna (2,790), Moquegua (813) and Ilo (531). In this way, with preliminary figures from Petroperú, it is expected to bring natural gas to no less than 40,000 new Peruvian beneficiaries in the south of the country, who today pay an average of S/50 per LPG bottle.
Despite these advances, the goal of massification in the south is still far from being met. The new networks will depend, specifically, on the regasification carried out in each of the plants that must be built this year to receive the energy through a virtual gas pipeline (tank trucks), but the real gas pipeline is missing, the one that with the deceased Project 7 Regions offered coverage for 114,000 families from Ucayali, Junín, Cusco, Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Apurímac and Puno.
Gas pipeline to massify
The massification goals with a SIT-Gas offered as a PPP through ProInversión, although still without a fixed award date (it is expected between 2025 or 2026, with luck), are far from what has already been achieved with Lima, led by Cálidda.
According to the latest report from the Colombian capital company, in 2023 a global of 1,782,611 connected clients were achieved, with a total of 222,232 new connections for 900,000 people at the end of the year.
“This year 2024 we hope to build approximately 1,000 kilometers of networks, which would mean an investment of approx. US$100 million. With this, this year we should reach 1,950,000 connected homes,” Martín Mejía del Carpio, executive director of Cálidda, told La República.
Massification in the north shows more promise
According to Promigas, the company that serves the northern concession, an investment of no less than US$25 million is expected this year to bring gas to 17,000 families.
According to Quavii, more than 260,000 families in northern Peru have the service at the end of 2023. Of that total, 245,000 homes are located in the regions of Cajamarca, Lambayeque, La Libertad and Áncash; and 18,000 in the Piura region.
On the other hand, the new regions to the south, such as Ayacucho and Huancavelica, are currently advancing only with massification agreements with virtual gas. In these regions, the installation of the future LNG Regasification Satellite Plant is expected, for which there is a commitment to transfer land.
Source: Larepublica
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