By an OGJ correspondent
LIMA, Apr. 9 -- US-based Olympic Peru Inc. plans to begin its first commercial sales of nonassociated gas by mid-April, when it expects to have its final technical certificate from Osinerg, Peru's organization for the supervision of the energy industry.
Perupetro SA, the state oil company, earlier certified that Olympic completed construction, filling, and testing its Paita natural gas pipeline. That project included construction of a 6-in. gas line running about 50 km northwest from Olympic's natural gas fields to the gathering station system and Paita port and.
Olympic Peru is operator of Block 13 in Peru's Sechura Desert, which the company began exploring and developing in 1996.
The Austral Group fisheries complex is to be the first customer for an initial 3 MMscfd of Olympic Peru's gas. The complex plans to convert its boilers to gas from residual fuel to reduce costs.
Olympic said it is has two other contracts in the offing and is negotiating with other fisheries groups at Tierra Colorada, adjacent to Paita. It would require installation of an additional 2 km of pipeline, along from connections to the plants, to serve that market.
At the start of this year, officials in the hydrocarbons bureau of Peru's energy and mines ministry certified Olympic's proven reserves at 194.90 bscf of dry gas, the company reported.
The Becara, La Casita, and Viru structures are reported to contain reserves of 159.42 bscf, with another 35.482 bscf in the Loco structure.
Olympic completed two gas wells in February and March in the Mochica and Loco structures.
Earlier this year, Olympic Peru announced plans to drill two exploration wells on that block. Those are among the 10 wildcat wells that Perupetro officials projected to be drilled this year (OGJ Online, Jan. 28, 2002).