Peru Suspends Natural Gas Exports, Imposes Fuel Rationing
Peru has suspended exports of natural gas and will impose fuel rationing due to technical issues at Argentine energy company Pluspetrol's operations in the country, it said on Thursday.Peru, one of South America's largest producers of natural gas, declared an emergency to direct all natural gas supplies for domestic consumption, citing a drop in production at Pluspetrol's Las Malvinas plant in the Camisea gas fields in southern Peru.The Camisea consortium, which Pluspetrol controls, said it partially suspended operations after detecting…
Peru's Vizcarra Repeals Tullow's Offshore Oil Contracts
Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra passed a decree that repealed five offshore oil contracts that his predecessor had awarded to Tullow Oil in March shortly before resigning, according to the official gazette on Wednesday. The contracts came under fire from lawmakers and coastal residents after they learned that disgraced former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had authorized them shortly before resigning due to graft allegations in March.Reporting By Marco Aquino, Writing By Mitra Taj
Peru to Auction Natgas Pipeline Project in 2018
Peru is planning to hold a new auction for a natural gas pipeline in the first half of 2018 after rescinding a $5 billion contract for the project with Brazil's scandal-racked Odebrecht, the head of state bidding agency Proinversion said on Thursday. The government rescinded the contract for the proposed 1,134-kilometer (705-mile) pipeline in January after the consortium led by Odebrecht missed a financing deadline amid a growing graft scandal. Proinversion director Alvaro Quijandria said the project's design might change following a feasibility study under way now based on the original plan.
Peru Plans to Terminate Odebrecht Pipeline Contract
Peru said Monday that it plans to terminate Brazilian engineering conglomerate Odebrecht's $5 billion natural gas pipeline contract after it said it would miss a key financing deadline for the project. Energy and Mines Minister Gonzalo Tamayo added on local broadcaster RPP that the government would assess the value of the partially-built project and schedule a new auction as soon as possible. The Odebrecht-led consortium that won the rights to build the pipeline in 2014 announced on Friday that it would not be able to meet a financing deadline this week and was waiting for notification to begin the process of returning the contract to the state.
Odebrecht Pipeline Group Waiting for Government to End Contract
An Odebrecht-led pipeline consortium in Peru announced that it will not be able to meet a key financing deadline on Monday and is waiting for the government for notification that it will terminate its $5 billion contract, the company said in a statement Friday. Brazilian engineering conglomerate Odebrecht, at the center of a growing bribery scandal in Latin America, has been trying to sell its 55 percent in the project, Gasoducto Sur Peruano, as a condition from banks that would provide a $4.1 billion loan needed for construction. Grana y Montero , Peru's biggest construction group, owns a 20 percent stake in the pipeline group. Spain's Enagas SA controls 25 percent.
Peru Says It Will Nix Key Odebrecht Contract If Won through Bribes
Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski said he will terminate a $5 billion natural gas pipeline contract if it is found to have been won with bribes, even if corruption-plagued Brazilian builder Odebrecht exits the project. In a videotaped interview with financial daily Gestion posted online on Tuesday, Kuczynski said some of the $29 million in bribes that Odebrecht recently acknowledged distributing in Peru may have been used to win the pipeline contract in 2014, which would trigger "termination of the contract" if true. Kuczynski said he would apply a clause in the contract for the pipeline…
Peru Workers Plan Strike That Could Disrupt LNG Exports
Natural gas workers in Peru plan to hold an indefinite strike starting Dec. 29 that would disrupt production of the widely-used fuel as well as Royal Dutch Shell Plc's liquefied natural gas exports, the union SUTRAPPEC said Thursday. Some 200 unionized workers needed to operate Peru's Camisea gas fields will down tools to press Argentine energy company Pluspetrol to offer better wages and benefits in a new labor agreement, said SUTRAPPEC spokesman Juan Carlos Vargas. Pluspetrol owns a controlling stake - 27.2 percent - in the Camisea consortium that produces the vast majority of Peru's natural gas from a remote jungle region.
Peru Diversifies Crude Imports
Peru has started expanding the sources of its crude imports, slowly introducing U.S. and Brazilian grades to a slate mostly based on oil from Ecuador, Africa and Trinidad and Tobago, according to Thomson Reuters Trade Flows data. The numbers show Peru has joined the growing list of Latin American countries increasing purchases of U.S. light crudes for their refineries since an export ban was lifted in late 2015. "Buying other crudes is a result of a wider variety due to U.S. crude exports. We always choose the option with the best economic value for us," the chief of external markets at Peruvian state-run oil firm Petroperu, Augusto Nunez, said in an interview.
Argentina's Macri Defends Energy Rate Hikes
President Mauricio Macri on Saturday defended his move to hike Argentina's energy rates as a "painful" but necessary part of fixing the economy after years of mismanagement under his leftist predecessor. Macri's remarks came two days after an Argentine court halted price increases for gas and electricity, hurting his drive to narrow the fiscal deficit by cutting energy subsidies. The dispute will likely end up in the Supreme Court. "If there had been an alternative I would have taken it, but there was no alternative," Macri said in a speech marking the country's bicentennial independence day celebration.
Amazonian Tribe in Peru Takes Hostages after Oil Spill
An indigenous community in the Peruvian Amazon took at least eight public officials hostage to demand help from the central government after an oil spill polluted its lands, authorities said Monday. The Wampis community of Mayuriaga seized a grounded military helicopter late on Sunday, holding crew members and several officials to press for inclusion in the emergency response plan, said German Velasquez, the president of state-owned energy company Petroperu. A rupture in Petroperu's 40-year-old pipeline spilled 1,000 barrels of oil in Mayuriaga on Feb.
Repsol Makes Major Gas Discovery in Bolivia
Repsol SA discovered 4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of possible natural gas reserves in Bolivia that it will start tapping in 2019, the government and company said Friday - a finding that could boost the Andean country's reserves by 40 percent. The three new fields - Boicobo, Ipaguazu and Boyuy - in the Caipipendi block in southern Bolivia contain enough gas to meet the demands of neighboring Brazil over 10 years, said Diego Diaz, the head of Repsol's Bolivian unit. Spain's Repsol has a 37.5 percent stake in the block and Bolivia's state-run energy company YPFB can take 82 percent of earnings on new energy production.
Peru's President Seeks to Boost State Energy Firm
Peru's President Ollanta Humala on Friday sought a last-minute compromise with Congress on a bill that aims to clear the way for state-owned energy company Petroperu to control the country's biggest oil block. Humala asked the opposition-controlled Congress to modify the legislation to make clear that Petroperu would only be able to operate block 192 after a contract with Pacific Exploration and Production Corp expires. It was unclear if lawmakers who overwhelmingly passed the bill earlier this month would incorporate Humala's proposal or vote to pass it into law unchanged.
Protests Expand in Peru's Oil-producing Amazon Region
Demonstrators in the Peruvian Amazon barricaded streets, hurled stones at local businesses and burned at least one vehicle to protest the government's decision to award a Canadian company a license to tap the country's largest oil block. The protesters, led by the region's governor, want the government to repeal its recently inked contract with Pacific Exploration and Production Corp and transfer control of block 192 to state-owned Petroperu. "The only thing foreign companies have done is pollute and foment distrust among local populations," said Fernando Melendez, governor of the Amazonian region Loreto.
Petroperu saw more risk, less profit in large oil block
Peru's state-owned energy company Petroperu opted not to take a stake in the country's biggest oil block as expected because the short-term contract signed this week would mean more risk and less profit, the firm said Friday. Petroperu said in June that it would likely exercise its option to take a stake of up to 25 percent in block 192 as allowed under a law designed to strengthen the company, which has not produced oil in more than 20 years. But an auction for a 30-year concession on the block failed to draw any bids earlier this month amid slumping oil prices and thorny government talks with communities…
Petroperu Plans $2.7 bln in Global Bonds
Petroperu plans to issue $2.7 billion in global bonds, likely with a 30-year maturity, by the end of November to finance expansion of its main refinery, the president of the state-owned energy company said Friday. German Velasquez said French bank Societe Generale and Peruvian bank Cofide are the bookrunners on the planned transactions, which will allow Petroperu to ramp up work on its Talara refinery that is 13 percent complete. "We think the bond sales1 should culminate in November of this year for the entire debt ... $2.7 billion," Velasquez told Reuters in an interview.
Peru Opens Bidding for Largest Oil Bblock
Peru on Thursday opened bidding for rights to develop the country's largest oil block from mid 2015, the country's energy regulator Perupetro said. The licence is currently held by Pluspetrol. The regulator said it would announce the winning bid on July 15. (Reporting by Mitra Taj; Writing by Richard Lough)
Peru Postpones Bidding on Oil Blocks Amid Price Collapse
Peru will hold off on launching an international auction for 25 oil blocks in the first half of 2015 as energy companies grapple with low crude prices, the country's Energy and Mines Ministry said Friday. The South American nation had planned to open bidding on the rights to develop 19 Amazonian oil blocks and another six offshore blocks in the first half of 2015. But a collapse in the price of oil has sapped interest, Ortiz said. "I don't believe the conditions will be right, at least in the first half of this year," Ortiz said. Peru's relatively small oil output rose slightly last year, but the price slump has crimped plans to keep boosting production.
Peru Natural Gas Workers Plan Strike
Natural gas workers in Peru plan to start a six-day strike on December 27 to push for better wages and other benefits after talks with Argentine energy company Pluspetrol broke down, the union SUTRAPPEC said on Tuesday. Pluspetrol leads the consortium that develops Peru's Camisea fields, the source of the vast majority of the country's daily natural gas output of around 1.2 billion cubic feet. SUTRAPPEC said in a statement that its members voted to start the strike at 0600 (1100 GMT) December 27. Demands include salary increases, protection from noxious chemicals and better food and telecommunications in worker camps.
Peru's Melting Glaciers a Deadly Threat as Temperatures Rise
High in the Peruvian Andes, the glacier-fed lake Laguna 513 brims with meltwater atop a populated valley in a region prone to earthquakes. Scientists warn that if a giant chunk of ice from the Hualcan glacier breaks off it could trigger a tsunami-like wave in Laguna 513 and send a lethal torrent of water cascading down the valley. It has happened before in the Andean nation. In 1970, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook ice blocks into highland lakes and unleashed an avalanche that buried the town of Yungay and killed more than 20,000 people.
Natural Gas Workers in Peru May Strike
Natural gas workers in Peru, South America's biggest exporter of liquefied natural gas, said on Friday they had pulled out of wage talks with Argentine energy company Pluspetrol and would vote on a possible strike in a few weeks. Pluspetrol leads the consortium that taps Peru's Camisea fields, the source of the country's daily natural gas output of around 1.2 billion cubic feet. Juan Carlos Vargas, a spokesman for the SUTRAPPEC union that represents 193 of the 494 Camisea workers, said a walkout would halt natural gas production. "There would be no one to pump the gas," Vargas said. Vargas said the union decided on Friday to end the talks that started in July.
