Peru pauses LNG exports

Peru's government temporarily stopped LNG exports because of a potential emergency at the Camisea gas transport system, according to Peru's energy ministry.

The ban on exports from the 4.4m t/yr Peru LNG facility started on 16 October and initially will last through 20 October, but can be extended.

The last LNG cargo was exported on 6 October.

The decision to halt exports stemmed from the Camisea consortium's detection of a "potentially atypical condition" at the Las Malvinas processing plant in the south-central jungle. Camisea was continuing to process 700mn cf/d of natural gas, sufficient to meet domestic demand.

The emergency at Camisea, which is operated by Argentina's Pluspetrol, does not affect LPG production at the fractionating plant in Pisco on the southern coast.

Peru produced an average of 1.43bn cf/d of natural gas in September, with Camisea representing 1.38bn cf/d.

Peru LNG, operated by US-based Hunt Oil, has sent out 480 shipments since the liquefaction plant in mid-2010. Of the six shipments exported since September, four went to Spain, one to Australia and one to the Netherlands.

LNG exports were stopped for three weeks in late July and early August, when Camisea closed down for the first full-scale maintenance since the complex began operating 14 years ago.