Altamesa Energy and Petroperu to Partner on Peru's Block 192

---

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Altamesa Energy (Montreal, Quebec) is set to become Petroperu's (Lima, Peru) partner in Block 192, one of Peru's biggest oil fields and a controversial asset. The two companies plan to reopen the block, with Altamesa as the field's operator with a 61% stake, and plan to add 21 wells during the first phase of production to increase output.

The process of finding a strategic partner for Petroperu started in 2021. Block 192 previously was operated by Frontera Energy (Calgary, Alberta). In 2019, it produced about 7,000 barrels of oil per day (BBL/d), despite facing the closure of the field in January and February of that year. The asset is estimated to have 27 million barrels of recoverable reserves.

But the field was shut down completely in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has been offline since then. Frontera's contract concluded in 2021, and the company did not renew its deal amid problems with local communities.

As a result, Peru granted Petroperu 100% of the stakes in the asset in 2022 for 30 years. Initially, the state-owned company was going to start a process to review the block's infrastructure and status. Since then, the energy company has been trying to resume production, with the restart of oil output expected to take place in the second half of the year, according to the company's statement.

This energy asset is located in the Loreto province near the border with Ecuador, where several indigenous communities, such as the Kichwa and Quechua populations, reside. Over the years, local groups protested against pollution and oil spills from the block's operations, and its perceived lack of benefits to the local communities.

In 2021, the government negotiated with local groups to find a peaceful solution to the restart of operations at the oil block. However, the field has yet to resume oil production.

Throughout last year, Peru registered an oil output of 38,700 BBL/d, slightly lower than the 40,600 BBL/d from the previous year, but below the volumes seen when Block 192 was operational.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) platform helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking more than 200,000 current and future projects worth $17.8 trillion (USD).