Peru legislative watch: Natural gas expansio...

Gas bills

Peru’s congress unanimously approved a ruling recommending the insistence on previously signed bills to expand natural gas use that were observed by the executive branch.

The bills and the observations are available at 523/2021-CR (create a national natural gas massification authority), 679/2021-CR (establish measures to promote the massification of natural gas), and 817/2021-CR (declare the construction of natural gas supply and distribution networks throughout the country to be of national interest and public necessity).

The observations aim to improve the bill’s technical aspects, according to the executive, which highlights the need to amend several articles, such as those related to the participation of state companies, financing, and the transfer of goods and infrastructure.

Refinery law

Congress published a law in the official gazette that declares of national interest the commissioning of the Pucallpa refinery and the modernization of the Iquitos refinery.

The 3,300b/d Pucallpa refinery is in the central Amazon region of Ucayali and was shuttered in 2018 by Maple Gas, which had operated the plant under a lease with national oil company Petroperú.

Petroperú also operates the 12,000b/d Iquitos refinery on the Amazon river in the north of the country that receives part of the crude from block 95, Peru’s principal oil producer.

Energy fund boost

And lawmakers approved initiatives to amend law 29852, which created the hydrocarbon energy security system and the social energy inclusion fund (FISE) to guarantee access to electricity, natural gas and LPG.

The bills include 9268/2023-CR, 9369/2024-CR, and 9375/2024-CR.

Among the proposed changes is that FISE resources be allocated exclusively to families registered in the household targeting system (SISFOH) and to current program beneficiaries, prioritizing rural and extremely poor areas

Another modification entails a progressive increase in the FISE budget assigned to LPG.