Peru to sign 20 hydrocarbon exploration contracts in 2010
Peru's mining ministry is set to sign 20 new hydrocarbon exploration contracts in 2010, said.
The new exploration contracts will be awarded by Perupetro, Peru's state licensing agency for hydrocarbon
exploration, via a series of auctions. The first auction of 10 new exploration blocks is held in January.
In Camisea's natural gas blocks 88 and 56 in the central highland region of Cusco, operated by the Pluspetrol
consortium, a projected $ 576 mm would be spent on further production and exploration works. Pluspetrol Peru is the
lead operator of the Camisea project, which includes US-based Hunt Oil, South Korea's SK Corp., Tecpetrol, a unit of
Argentina's Techint Group, Algeria's Sonatrach Petroleum and Spain's Repsol-YPF.
A total of $ 178 mm is to be spent exploring new gas reserves in blocks 57 and 58, near the Camisea natural gas
fields.
Investments in block 57 -- controlled 54 % by Repsol, and 46 % by Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro, or Petrobras --
should total $ 80 mm. In lot 58, operated solely by Petrobras, investments are to reach $ 98 mm.
Of the 89 Peruvian hydrocarbon contracts awarded so far, 19 are in production, while 70 are in the exploration phase.
