Victor Fuentes: "“Petroperú loses US$1,000 per minute”

Towards the end of 2025, the Executive published Emergency Decree (DU) 010-2025 for the reorganization of Petroperu. Immediately, left-wing groups opposed it under the argument of privatization and presented projects to repeal the norm. However, they did not mention anything about debts with suppliers and workers’ grievances. In this regard, Víctor Fuentes, Public Policy manager of the Peruvian Institute of Economics (IPE), explained what has to be done with the company in the coming months.

Petrolera assures that the changes established in the emergency decree will allow it to meet its obligations.

The emergency decree for the reorganization of Petroperú is questioned. Does the rule privatize the oil company?

It is clear to everyone that Petroperú requires forced rehabilitation because before that it was like having a dead man walking. This rehabilitation involves injecting private capital, opening private participation so that it operates efficiently. The oil industry requires surgery, not that we treat it with band-aids; but, without a doubt, the word “privatization” has been demonized.

There are approximately nine bills that aim to repeal that rule.

I feel that the recipe of much of the left is to refuse to see that there is a disease. It is as if they want the party to continue and for all taxpayers to continue financing something that has failed, in the name of “sovereignty”, of “strategic assets”. We are talking about a company that loses US$1,000 per minute and to which millions of soles have already been injected to survive. It is curious that some politicians’ concerns have double standards, where they do not talk about the need for more resources for education, but nothing is said about everything that is spent on the oil company.

Will more money have to be injected to help the company?

I believe that the possibility of solving the company’s problems in a profitable way has already passed. That train, as they say, already left 10 years ago. We have to find a way to make the aid the least expensive within a package of solutions that are expensive. The rescue in the short term is going to demand additional resources, because there is no way to add value to a company that is currently in the red. In the short term, Petroperú will require artificial respiration, but taking into account that, if we do not stop the drain on public funds without a real change, ultimately we are doing nothing more than losing money.

Is there a short-term solution to pay suppliers?

There are options that should be discussed and, therefore, it is important that there is collaboration and understanding between Congress and the Executive. There is a very big risk that what can be advanced with Petroperú in these months could be lost once the new government takes office. Therefore, it is important that there be a law in Congress that allows the appointment of the company’s board of directors to be protected. Focusing on the immediate, we could discuss Indecopi’s intervention to order payment of creditors because, indeed, there is short-term debt that must be honored; Otherwise, the company will not be able to continue operating.

Recently, the former president of Petroperú, Alejandro Narváez, said that he had left the company “stable” when he left. Was the oil company on its way out of the crisis?

Petroperú’s senior officials have openly lied and the results are quite clear. A company that operates adequately does not require financial bailouts, as has been given to the oil company. It was said, for example, that we were going to connect with Ecuador and that that country was going to provide us with oil to refine. But to join them we would have to extend the North pipeline, and the oil company wants to get rid of that pipeline because it doesn’t know how to manage it.

Is the Norperuano pipeline not being used?

A real solution for the public company is to value this pipeline, which would allow us to exploit the oil fields that we have in the Amazon as well. The pipeline is not used. At this point, Petroperú’s opaque management is quite clear.

Will it help the company if the shops are eliminated and the company properties that are not used properly are sold?

You have to think that solving the problem is a long-term effort. This involves having a professional, meritocratic corporate governance, which goes hand in hand with the entry of private capital for operations. But we must consider that these private operators are not going to enter a company that has monstrous levels of debt, with such a large golden payroll and with absurd tricks. Personnel reduction is an essential element in Petroperú’s restructuring. This has already happened before in other State institutions with the aim of achieving efficiency. The sale of the properties, meanwhile, shows the commitment that a company like Petroperú does not require meaningless properties.