Caring for the pipes of the defunct Gasoducto Sur Peruano (GSP), abandoned by Odebrecht, It will cost S / 172 million 094,489 in 2022. For the fifth consecutive year, the Peruvian State will invest between US $ 42.5 million just to prevent them from deteriorating or being vandalized while the dispute it maintains with the Brazilian is resolved, according to the figure in the Budget Law for the coming period. However, the Government is close to providing a solution.
The protection of the pipes, which have a potential value already demonstrated, is closely linked to the decision of the government of President Pedro Castillo to carry out or not to carry out the SIT-Gas project, which comes to cover the massification route left by the GSP , and the result of the international arbitrations that the State maintains with Enagás (the result of which could be known in 2022 or 2023) and Odebrecht (which could be released in 2024).
Along these lines, the Government must make the right decision on how to carry out the new gas pipeline and what is the policy that will have to be followed legally. As it is recalled, on October 3, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) presented the supreme resolution No. 108-2021-PCM, created for the multisectoral commission in charge of renegotiating the Camisea gas contract, which had a valid for 60 business days.
Currently, said commission, whose term of existence has been consumed, manages four alternatives for the continuity of this key work to bring natural gas to the southern regions of the country, and with it reorient Peru’s energy matrix: public works, association public private financed, public private co-financed partnership and government to government. Everything is in the hands of the group made up of five ministries, in addition to PCM: Minem, MEF, Mincetur, Minjus and Chancellery.
Venia de Mott Macdonald
It is also 15 months since Minem announced that the British consulting firm Mott Macdonald, hired to evaluate the possibilities of resuming the project -called to be the cornerstone of the massification of gas in the south-, finished its fourth report referring to its pre-feasibility, now as SIT Gas, with a “ estimated investment of US $ 4,500 million ”.
This report has not been made public in its entirety, despite the request of different organizations and professionals in the field, who demand to know the details of an emblematic work for the campaign and inauguration of President Castillo. But details have been known.
The consulting firm analyzed various alternatives to the original GSP project. The first is to use maritime transport, from the Peru LNG facilities in Pampa Melchorita (Cañete), from where the gas from Block 56 of Camisea is now exported to Mexico and other destinations. The second alternative would be the so-called “coastal gas pipeline”. From Pisco, the gas would be carried overland to Arequipa and from there it would “go up” to the Peruvian highlands. That is, connect Ica with Arequipa with a tube along the entire coast, and then take the gas by tanker to Puno, Tacna, etc. from the White City. The third alternative would be to follow the same route as the expired GSP.
The maritime alternative was the most expensive: all its variants exceed US $ 6,000 million. It is followed by the coastal gas pipeline, with values above US $ 5.7 billion. The most economical and efficient route turned out to be the one that follows the same layout as the expired gas pipeline: US $ 4,320 million.
New tender in 2022
If Mott Macdonald prepared the report, it was because the State managed a globally recognized technical opinion regarding the GSP, now referred to as SIT-Gas, which continued to be viable despite the scandals surrounding its tender with Odebrecht. The new tender must take place precisely in 2022.
With all this, in the opinion of various specialists in the sector, it is vitally important to maintain the original line of the GSP to take advantage of the purchased pipe, part of which has already been laid underground, and whose value is unofficially estimated above the US $ 1.2 billion. SIT-Gas demand studies, which until the departure of former Minister Jaime Gálvez had not been completed, are now ready.
Meanwhile, Peru has paid more than US $ 216 million to the Colombian Estudios Técnicos SAS for the care of the tubes since the second half of 2017. This, taking into account the eventual capital injections assumed this year by the MEF, due to the volatility of the dollar. This is the case of last November 10, when an additional S / 29 million were transferred to the S / 150 million originally planned for 2021, by Osinergmin, because the resources “only reached until October.”
Gas demand in the south ratified
In his report, Mott Macdonald states that the project is economically and socially profitable. The social return is US $ 4,580 million and is paid in two years. Two thirds correspond to savings for gas consumers (they no longer have to pay for the more expensive fuels).
For the consulting firm, the demand for SIT-Gas reaches 4.85 TCF of gas for the 30 years of its duration. This equates to an annual consumption of 473.8 million cubic feet per day (mmpcd).
Yes, the 4.85 TCF required by the SIT can be reached: Block 88 would provide (1) TCF, Lot 56 would provide 0.29 TCF, followed by Block 57 with 1.43 TCF. The largest supplier would be Block 58, from China’s CNPC, with 2.13 TCF.
The numbers
1,080 kilometers of pipelines originally occupied the South Peruvian Gas Pipeline.
90% of Camisea’s gas connections are in Lima.
So far, Odebrecht has paid S / 124 million in reparations to Peru for four other cases.
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Kingston is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his in-depth and engaging writing on sports. He currently works as a writer at 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the sports industry.
