By an OGJ correspondent
LIMA, Sept. 16 -- Peru's Camisea natural gas project will have a guaranteed income for the transportation and distribution of gas through pipeline through a contract covering the difference in the cost of transportation until production reaches 380-450 MMcfd.
The guarantee has been in place since the contract was signed in December 2000 with Etecen, Peru's main power grid. The government, however, transferred the guarantee to Perupetro, the state oil agency, on Sept. 3 after Colombia's Interconexion Electrica SA won a 30-year concession to operate Etecen and affiliate Etesur.
Perupetro is to set up a contingency fund of $12 million in 2004, for immediate availability of funds to Camisea should there be delays in payment to the transportation and distribution concessionaires.
The transportation concessionaira, Transportadora de Gas del Peru, will pipe the gas from Camisea to the city gate south of Lima, scheduled to arrive beginning in August 2004. Belgium's Tractebel SA will distribute the gas through networks in Lima and Callao.
Camisea update
Work on the Camisea project continues on schedule, according to the consortium in which Argentina's Pluspetrol SA and Tecgas, a Techint SA unit, are the operators.
Dallas-based Hunt Oil Corp., which is leading the consortium's feasibility study for an LNG export project, is currently working on an environmental impact assessment (EIA) for a proposed LNG plant at Cañete on Peru's southern coast.
Representatives of the InterAmerican Development Bank and Andean Group have been reviewing EIAs, especially for indigenous communities and pipeline routes in the Camisea region while studying possible financing for the project. The consortiums hope the funds will be available by next March.
