Peru Starts 2023 with Lower Oil, Stable Natural Gas Output

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Researched by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Peru's northern oil fields reported lower production in 2023, while the South American nation's natural gas output saw some gains when compared with December 2022.

In January, Peru started the year with 35,422 barrels per day (BBL/d) of oil output, about a 12% drop from the previous month and the lowest pace since October. Year-over-year, last month's production stood at 17% below the volumes seen in January 2021.

The sudden drop was attributed largely to weaker production from PetroTal Corporation's (Houston, Texas) Block 95, which is in the Bretana oil field. In January, the company produced 8,500 BBL/d, a drop of 4,000 BBL/d when compared with December last year. Block 95 is one of the top-producing areas in Peru, accounting for almost half of the nation's output, so any issue at this facility results in considerably lower volumes.

The Bretana oil field has a projected peak production capacity of about 37,000 BBL/d by 2028, according to the company's plan. However, PetroTal is expecting an oil output of 14,000 to 15,000 BBL/d for 2023. This will include the development of three new oil wells, a new water-disposal well, and the construction of a new platform.

Production from Block 95 can be shipped by barge to Brazil's Manaus Refinery, northern Peru's Iquitos Refinery, or PetroTal's Saramuro Pump Station, where it can be transported through the North Peruvian Pipeline (ONP) to the Pacific coast.

PetroTal has not given a reason for January's sudden production drop, though oil output fluctuations in Block 95 are not uncommon.

Meanwhile, Peru's natural gas production in January stood at 1.46 billion cubic feet per day, roughly 6% higher than the previous month and among the highest results in a year.

The stronger volumes resulted from a higher output from blocks 56 and 57. Block 56 saw an increase of 101 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, to close January at 363,480 million cubic feet per day, the most robust output since November.

Block 56 and 88 are part of the Camisea project, one of Latin America's largest natural gas fields, which meets about 40% of Peru's gas demand for power generation. Pluspetrol S.A. (Buenos Aires, Argentina) operates this project in a consortium with Hunt Oil Company (Dallas, Texas), SK Energy (Seoul, South Korea), Tecpetrol International S.A. (Buenos Aires), Repsol S.A. (Madrid, Spain) and Sonatrach (Hydra, Algeria), which produces condensate and natural gas.

Block 57, operated by Repsol, saw a 56% increase in natural gas output in January, closing at 221.5 million cubic feet per day, its strongest pace since May.

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