Workers at Peru's Camisea gas and liquids complex plan to launch an indefinite strike on 29 December after failing to strike a salary agreement with management.
The labor union Sutrappec began talks for higher wages and a greater share in profits in early November. The talks collapsed on 9 December.
Sutrappec represents workers at gas-producing blocks 56 and 88 in the southeastern jungle, as well as downstream workers at a fractionating plant in the city of Pisco.
Argentina's Pluspetrol, the largest shareholder in the six-member Camisea Consortium, operates the upstream and downstream facilities. Pluspetrol was unavailable for comment.
The strike would have a ripple effect on the Peruvian economy. Gas from Camisea is used to generate close to 45pc of Peru's electricity, and liquids are used to produce LPG covering 80pc of Peru's internal demand. The fractionating plant produces 1.56mn t/yr of LPG.
Gas from block 56 is the principal feedstock for the 4.4mn t/yr Peru LNG plant, South America's only export-oriented liquefaction complex. Peru LNG, operated by US firm Hunt Oil, started operating in June 2010. Two-thirds of its production goes to Mexico under a long-term contract with state-run utility CFE. The remaining LNG is sold on the spot market.
Camisea's two blocks average 1.1bn ft3/d (30.8mn m3/d) of gas, out of total national production of 1.4bn ft3/d. They also produce an average of 82,500 b/d of gas liquids out of a nationwide total of 93,500 b/d.
The Camisea Consortium is led by Pluspetrol with a 27.2pc stake, and includes Hunt Oil (25.2pc), South Korea's SK Innovation (17.6pc), Argentina's Tecpetrol (10pc), Algeria's Sonatrach (10pc) and Spain's Repsol (10pc).
