Peru fuel infrastructure projects facing delays

Contracting and investment tweaks have impacted fuel infrastructure projects for a combined 251mn soles (US$65mn) under development by Peru’s national oil company Petroperú.

The projects are the 161mn-sol Ilo terminal, and the 65mn-sol Puerto Maldonado and 25mn-sol Ninacaca depots.

Information from the NOC shows that at end-September, physical completion of Ilo, Puerto Maldonado and Ninacaca stood at 31.4%, 63.2% and 47.1%, versus programmed advancement of 33.2%, 68.5% and 51.1%.

“The contracting of the new procurement and construction service (PC) of the [Ilo] project is pending, due to delays in determining the estimated referential amount of the project, which will be defined in July 2023,” according to the state operator.

Ilo – as seen in rendering – will cover current and forecast demand in the southern coastal regions of Moquegua and Tacna, and potentially the inland regions of Puno and Madre de Dios.

The terminal will be able to handle vessels up to 60,000DWT and boast capacity of 296,000b. An expansion would take capacity to 1.05 million barrels.

In the case of Puerto Maldonado, “the main contract is on hold until the process of reviewing the scope and investment amount of the project is completed.”

Petroperú added that regarding progress of the procurement and construction service, which Tecnitanques is responsible for, general preliminary work stands at 96%, civil works 85%, mechanical work 92%, and electrical works and instrumentation 57%.

While Ninacaca has been stopped since April 2020 due to a dispute resolution process with Consorcio OBS-Imecon which led to a favorable ruling for the consortium last year for 1.8mn soles, Petroperú said.

The consortium’s contract, however, was rescinded earlier this year “for breaches related to the custody of accesses and security of the land where the service is developed.” Currently, market research is being carried out for the contracting of the complementary engineering development service.

Puerto Maldonado in Madre de Dios will boast storage capacity of 50,000b and storage for Ninacaca in the central highland region of Pasco will reach an initial 7,500b.

Latest numbers from the energy and mines ministry show that daily fuel sales in September averaged 280,390b compared with 277,760b a year earlier.