LIMA -(Dow Jones)- The consortium running the Camisea natural gas fields will have to meet domestic demand in southern Peru from lot 88, using reserves of no less than a trillion cubic feet of natural gas, the government said Thursday.
A supreme decree outlining the obligation was published in the official gazette on Thursday, signed by President Alan Garcia.
The move is aimed at countering ongoing criticism that the Peruvian government plans to allow exports of natural gas at the expense of ensuring local supplies.
The supreme decree also says that the Ministry of Mines and Energy will tell the Camisea consortium when it has to start sending the gas supplies to the southern region, depending on demand and availability of transport.
Kuntur Transportadora de Gas, tied to private-equity company Conduit Capital Partners LLC, plans to move natural gas through a 675-mile pipeline from the Camisea gas fields to several southern highland departments.
Gas and liquids are currently shipped from the jungle region to a plant near Pisco on the Pacific coast and then on to the capital of Lima and elsewhere.
The Peruvian government signed a 40-year contract with the Camisea consortium in 2000. The project came on-stream in 2004.
Pluspetrol Peru Corp. SA, is the lead operator of the Camisea project, while other companies include U.S.-based Hunt Oil Co., South Korea's SK Corp. (003600.SE), Tecpetrol, a unit of Argentina's Techint Group, Algeria's Sonatrach Petroleum Corp. and Repsol YPF SA. (REP)
Pluspetrol said in June that recoverable reserves from the Camisea area blocks 88 and 56 totaled 14.7 trillion cubic feet. Company officials have said that certified reserves stand at about 8.8 trillion cubic feet.
Newspaper El Comercio said Thursday that the Camisea consortium has sent a proposal to the government, offering to supply the local market with 6.48 trillion cubic feet for the next 20 to 25 years, an increase from the 4.5 trillion cubic feet it initially offered.
-By Sophie Kevany, Dow Jones Newswires; 511-445 9957; peru@dowjones.com
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=6adYHPR%2BcBp1XAN9MyupeA%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

Publié le 01 octobre 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones