Perenco oil and gas company said in an Environmental Impact Study presented to the Ministry of Energy and Mines that it will invest $359 million to build a 207-kilometer, or about 130 miles, pipeline project in Peru’s north-eastern Loreto department.
According to state-run news agency Andina, the pipeline will transfer heavy crude oil from Block 67, located in the Maranon basin, to state oil company Petroperu’s Andoas station. Perenco will also construct a parallel line that will transfer hydrocarbons from the Andoas station to the crude processing plant on Block 67.
Construction of the pipeline will reportedly begin next year and it is expected to be operational by 2013.
Anglo-French Perenco’s wholly owned Block 67 contains the Paiche, Dorado, and Pirana oil fields with estimated reserves of more than 300 million barrels. Perenco says the fields will have a possible output of 100,000 barrels of oil per day.
President Alan García’s administration has declared the development of the oil fields “a project of national necessity and interest.”
Perenco has come under pressure to withdraw from the project because Block 67 is an area inhabited by at least two of the world’s last uncontacted tribes.
The oil and gas company also has a 50 percent interest in the exploration of Block 121, two areas located north and east of Block 67 in the Maranon basin.
