Representatives of lot operators on the north coast, who are suppliers of Petroperuthey once again sent a letter to President José Jerí requesting an immediate meeting due to the “critical debt” that the oil company has with them and which exceeds US$120 million.
“More than a month has passed since our letter and we have met repeatedly with Petroperú, the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, until now not only has the oil company not paid, but we have continued to supply crude oil to the Talara refinery and increasing the debt with the operators and many service companies,” the letter reads.
Although they highlighted the latest emergency decree that establishes the restructuring of the company, they pointed out that this does not solve the critical and urgent problem that these businesses, as well as other medium and small companies in the Talara area, are going through.
In that sense, in the statement they assure that there are more than 15,000 families of workers who depend on economic activity, and they assured that investment plans in exploration and exploitation are put at risk.
This debt also means putting at risk the payment of royalties, and, therefore, the validity of the License Contracts for the Exploration and Exploitation of Hydrocarbons. “The crisis that Petroperú is going through has the capacity to drag down the entire oil industry in northwest Peru, putting the national fuel supply and thousands of jobs at risk,” they indicated in the letter.
For this reason, they called for action to be taken. To begin with, they requested the full amortization of the overdue debt in the shortest possible time, to inject liquidity into the operators so that they can honor their commitments to their workers, suppliers and other creditors.
They also requested access to Petroperú’s infrastructure to store the crude oil and eventually sell it to third parties while the oil company does not recover its payment capacity. Another request they made is the suspension of the enforceability of royalty and investment payment obligations provided for in the contracts until the payments of the State company are regularized.
Likewise, they asked that a clear, immediate, transparent and sustainable mechanism be established to prevent the recurrence of a situation like this in the future.
ALARMING FIGURES
On the other hand, the head of Economy and Finance, Denisse Miralles, clarified that in general the debt to Petroperú suppliers exceeds S/2.5 billion.
“Starting in 2022, Petroperú began to generate losses, not adequately meeting certain operating expenses. (…) From then on, the government saw the need to inject resources to avoid the company’s insolvency,” he added during an interview with the A3R.net portal.
The head of the MEF announced that they will carry out a comprehensive reorganization within the company, as they have detected that there is an oversized administrative structure, which includes around 36 management positions.
“Many say that personnel spending is not important, but how can it not be in a company with a loss. More than 55% of the ‘salary item’ in the company goes to benefits that are not in line with the Peruvian reality and not in line with a company that is in this situation,” he said.
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