SNMPE describes the proposal to nationalize Camisea gas as a “disastrous” threat

The National Society of Mining, Oil and Energy (SNMPE) He described the call of President Pedro Castillo to nationalize the Camisea gas as a “nefarious threat that threatens private investment” and undermines the economic reactivation underway.

Pablo de la Flor, head of the SNMPE, said that what was declared by the Head of State during an event in Bagua Grande, Amazonas, only “fuels instability and mistrust among investors in circumstances that our country needs new capital” to reverse the economic and health crisis.

“Already 100 days of government are going to be fulfilled and we observe with great concern that there is no clear course in the leadership of the country. We only find contradictory announcements and gestures that demonize private investment and delegitimize its real contribution to the development of Peru ”, he emphasized.

In this context, he expressed that trying to unilaterally violate the Camisea contract, which is guaranteed by the Constitution itself and the Organic Hydrocarbons Law, poses a threat to private investment as a whole, undermining the legal order and the rule of law.

“We trust that the Congress of the Republic will not lend itself to validate measures like that, and that, on the contrary, it will continue working in the search for consensus in favor of the economic reactivation and progress of Peru,” he said.

Likewise, he said that using as an excuse the need to accelerate the massification of natural gas to promote an “illegal and arbitrary measure” only reflects a populist impetus that has already been applied in the past with disastrous results for all Peruvians.

“We agree that the massification of gas is urgent. However, for this to happen it is necessary for the Government to define public policy guidelines that allow the construction of a pipeline network in order to bring gas to more homes. The overcrowding has nothing to do with the Camisea contract, which, rather, already has a 65% tax burden between taxes and other contributions, “he added.

It should be noted that, in the last 17 years of operation, Camisea has contributed to the country more than 40,000 million soles to the Peruvian State, including taxes and royalties.

“As long as harmful messages persist such as the alleged nationalization of Camisea and the call for a Constituent Assembly to repeal the current Constitution, it will only be possible to scare away investment and the generation of jobs will deteriorate,” the statement concludes.