Peru pipeline restart set back by protests: Update

State-owned PetroPeru briefly reopened its 100,000 b/d northern crude pipeline on 1 August after a three-month closure, only to suspend it again the following day because of protests.

The indigenous protesters are demanding environmental reparations from four decades of oil production in the northern jungle.

PetroPeru suspended the 1,100km (684mi) line in early May because of diminishing feedstock from four blocks, where production had been shut in as a result of the March oil price collapse and pandemic-gutted demand.

Canadian independent PetroTal restarted production on block 95 in mid-July following a shutdown in May. It has been moving its 19°API Bretaña export crude by barge along the Ucayali river to PetroPeru's 12,000 b/d Iquitos refinery, but it needs the pipeline to further boost output.

The 40mn bl block averaged just shy of 10,000 b/d in the first three months of the year, prior to the local onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. PetroTal chief executive Manuel Zuñiga told Argus on 3 August that the block would remain open for now, but might have to shut quickly if the pipeline remains down.

The other pipeline users are fellow Canadian independent Frontera for 10,000 b/d block 192, Argentina's Pluspetrol Norte for 5,000 b/d block 8, and European independent Perenco for 1,300 b/d block 67. The three blocks remain closed.

The ageing pipeline has operated sporadically in recent years because of sabotage, illicit valves and infrastructure problems. The line has suffered 46 incidents since 2014, including 18 attacks.

By Lucien Chauvin