Since the beginning of the Camisea project in 2004, Cusco only saw the gas that is extracted from the deposits located in its territory come out, but never the benefit in their homes, automotive fleet and industry with the use of cheap energy.
Just since March of this year there has been a vehicular natural gas (NGV) station in the San Jerónimo district and a second point would be inaugurated by next December, according to reported Pablo Saenz-Laguna, General Manager at Limagas Natural, as part of his presentation at the forum ‘Cheap gas for Peruvians’, organized by the Regional Government of Cusco.
He specified that this project was viable through an agreement of the Regional Government of Cusco and the Camisea Consortium.
According to figures from Limagas Natural, at the beginning of this project a saving of close to 45.9% was estimated, but today, 8 months after commissioning, a saving of 62% was achieved for Cusco taxi drivers.
Likewise, natural gas (arriving by LNG trucks) allowed Backus to start operations with a gas plant since last June.
An important note from Daniel Guerra, Manager of Interinstitutional Relations of Pluspetrol (operator of the Camisea project), is that the production of these fields can supply “two Peru if necessary”, in clear sense that there is enough natural gas for massification. He also noted that the gas export project is fully compatible with overcrowding in the domestic market.
To date, the Camisea project produces 1,600 million cubic feet per day, of which 600 million are sold in the domestic market, 600 million are exported and 400 million are reinjected to the source reservoir due to lack of demand.
Steps to follow
It is precisely these types of independent initiatives that generated the GORE Cusco propose an aggressive massification plan, given that it already has storage facilities, regasification, between 4 to 5 tanker trucks that leave gas in the city.
Currently, natural gas reaches homes in Lima, Callao, Ica and Piura through the gas pipeline network. Meanwhile, the energy from Block 88 also reaches homes in Áncash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, Cajamarca, Arequipa, Moquegua and Tacna, through LNG trucks or virtual gas pipelines.
The regions not under concession and which are the subject of analysis, regarding overcrowding, by the government they are Apurímac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junín, Cusco, Puno and Ucayali.
Thus, Jean Paul Benavente, regional governor of Cusco, said that the challenge is to have a little more than 100,000 domestic natural gas connections – from the eighth year of commercial start-up – that would not exceed more than 5 million cubic feet.
“We want to raise some agreements with the companies for the provision of the resource, a favorable price agreement, to generate a distribution, because if we already have the storage tank, someone has to take care of the distribution ”, Benavente said.
The investment, estimated the regional governor, would be in the order of US $ 100 million and would be financed with funds from the Fise or Sise. The beginning of the development of this project is contemplated for the beginning of 2022, while the commercial start-up, in October 2022.
According to Benavente, some 70,000 households (located outside the monumental center of Cusco) would have quick access to natural gas, while those who live in the historic and central part of the city would be served with LPG at affordable prices, to the extent of the difficulty of building a pipeline network.
“A household needs one million BTUs a month, equivalent to two bottles of liquefied petroleum gas. That would cost between S / 20 and S / 25, a clear benefit with the regulated price of Lot 88 ″, he stressed.
Reactions
Jean Paul Benavente, regional governor of Cusco
“The Government must provide infrastructure and from there summon operation, maintenance and operations. That is the way. Peruvian and Cusco families need cheap gas in their homes ”.
Daniel Guerra, IR manager at Pluspetrol
“Camisea produces 1,600 million cubic feet a day, of that volume 400 million are reinjected, which could supply more than 20 million homes. Camisea’s natural gas is superfluous ”.
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