Hydrocarbon sector associations have submitted to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) a list of five reforms that will guarantee the supply of natural gas for more than the 20 years of life left for Camisea, but which involve accessing natural reserves currently protected by the State.
In a press conference, the president of the Peruvian Hydrocarbons Society (SPH), Felipe Cantuarias, said that the Government must give a ‘shock of confidence’ to the extractive sector to avoid an energy crisis like the one occurring in other countries in the region.
The proposal designed by the SPH is based on five axes: reducing the ‘red tape’ (in Peru, a permit can take up to 4 years, but in the region it does not take more than 8 months); a flexible royalty system; legal security that protects investments against social conflicts and/or the creation of protected areas without consultation; optimizing the infrastructure for transporting hydrocarbons and unblocking investments in jungle plots.
On this last point, the managing partner of Gas Energy Latin America, Álvaro Ríos, said that there is an important opportunity to replenish gas reserves with exploration in Madre de Dios, where the establishment of natural reserves, such as Candamo, prevents the industry from doing so.
Currently, Peru has reserves of almost 8.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, but it is estimated that, in total, there are resources close to 38 tcf to be explored.
“We recommend that exploratory work be started to correct the country’s own shortcomings regarding the high level of red tape and social conflict, so that in the future it does not become a net importer of energy, and mainly of natural gas, like Bolivia,” said Ríos, former Minister of Hydrocarbons of that country.
The specialist revealed that the ‘Bolivian miracle’ has come to an end and the highland country will begin to import gas because exploration by the private sector was not encouraged. In this regard, he did not rule out an exodus of “almost one million Bolivians” to Peru in the coming years.
As we recall, in Bolivia the State took over all the total or partial administration of all the natural gas fields through YPFB, and lived for a long time off royalties and the international sale price of the resource to bring energy to its population. But the gas ran out.
For a level gas rate for all
- SPH demanded the need to apply a level tariff for natural gas that would allow the provinces to access an energy source that is just as competitive as Lima. The decision is now in the hands of Congress.
- The union has also submitted to Minem a private project to replace the defunct SIT-Gas, a pipeline intended to transport gas resources to the south of the country.
Source: Larepublica
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