Today marks the 60th day of the Multisectoral Commission in charge of “expanding the reserves of natural gas and strengthen the hydrocarbon industry for the massification of natural gas at the national level ”to deliver a report with the proposals for the expansion of reserves of the resource and its placement in the regions of Cusco, Puno, Apurímac, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna.
The document should also propose the mechanisms that would promote and guarantee the massification of natural gas at the national level.
At this point, it should be clarified that This commission is not in charge of directly renegotiating the gas contracts with the consortium made up of Sonatrach, Hunt Oil Company, Repsol, Tecpetrol, SK Innovation and Pluspetrol. Another will be the multidisciplinary commission which will be in charge of sitting down with the technicians of the private sector based on the interests of the Peruvian State. But for that you need the report.
Given this, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PCM) will extend until January 28 the work of the commission, which was initially 60 days, provided by Supreme Resolution No. 108-2021-PCM, perhaps no more optimistic in time than the original dialogue table installed in Las Bambas, also 60 days.
The decision that the commission can make will be transcendental for the design and development of the SIT-Gas, a project that covers the void left by the Odebrecht South Peruvian Gas Pipeline (GSP), in the long slope to massify natural gas after 38 years of its discovery and 18 of exploitation. There is unanimity among the members of the multisectoral commission regarding the need for the SIT-Gas, although the decision is beyond technical.
Delaying absences
The sessions have not been free of ups and downs. For example, in November, Prime Minister Vásquez sent an official letter to her peer from Minem to make an appearance in the commission, after confirming three consecutive absences on the 5th, 9th and 11th by the person called to lead the process. In response, González stated that he should resolve the conflicts in Antamina and Petroperú Station 5 in the first two sessions, as well as a lack of coordination of agendas between the two for the last one.
To this must be added that there are key chairs in the sector that are not being fully occupied. This is the case of the Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons, absent since October, as well as that of the General Director of the General Directorate of Hydrocarbons (DGH). There is also the spokesperson for Perupetro, the only one representing the State that can renegotiate in the matter of hydrocarbons, which these days falls temporarily on José Luis Balta after the resignation of its owner, Seferino Yesquén, a month ago.
To understand the importance of the commission
The Multisectoral Commission is made up of the PCM and the heads of the Minem, MEF, Minjus, Mincetur and the Chancellery, as well as the Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons and the President of Perupetro.
About 25% of the gas from Block 88, destined for Peruvians, is reinjected because there is nowhere to put it. Meanwhile, the cost of exports from Block 56 is much lower than those paid for gas in the domestic market.
The group studies four options for the SIT-Gas: public works, financed APP, co-financed APP and G2G. The report will show the North of the Executive for when the issue of the Odebrecht tubes is legally settled.
Perupetro, the only one to renegotiate contracts in the sector on behalf of the State, has not yet renewed its board of directors.
Figures
20 million homes could have gas, according to Pluspetrol. Today only 9 million have it.
Camisea has 12.4 million cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.
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