Although the president of the Petroperú board of directors, Oliver Stark, He announced that his members would step aside if the Executive did not make a concrete decision to rescue the oil company, The government of Dina Boluarte would be taking advantage of this situation to get rid of this group of technicians and replace them with questionable officials.s, like the former minister Oscar Vera and the former president of the state Peter Chira. This will be decided between today and tomorrow, Palace sources said.
LOOK: Executive would bet on restructuring Petroperú
This newspaper learned that the head of state spoke with some ministers to request the departure of the current board, which has the support of the private sector and the heads of the Economy, Jose Aristaand Energy and Mines, Romulus MuchoThese two officials are said to be trying to convince the president to change her mind in order to save the company from the financial crisis.
The president is seeking to have Vera take over as general manager of the public company while Chira returns to the presidency. This is despite the fact that during Pedro Chira’s administration, Petroperú’s debt grew at a faster pace.
In the case of Vera, he was questioned during his period as minister for an alleged conflict of interest for having been a representative of the oil company’s workers.
The reason that would lead Boluarte to take this decision is that he does not agree with two points of the restructuring plan proposal. One of them is the participation of private capital despite the fact that the law allows it up to 49%. The second reason would be that he does not want a forensic audit to be carried out to find out why the construction of the Talara Refinery had an overrun.
The position of the president comes after she met, as Peru21 reported, with Vera and Chira last Wednesday, August 28.
SEA OF DEBTS
While the board is in danger of political interference, the oil company remains drowning in debt. As of December 2023, it had liabilities of US$8,302 million, but, as of June 2024, the debt reached US$1,000 million. US$8.47 billion. That is, an increase of US$168 million.
LOOK: The luxuries and pleasures of Petroperú
For this reason, if the government decides to restructure the state-owned company, part of what it would have to include is the sale of assets that generate expenses rather than profits.
And Petroperú has around 60 unnecessary properties that could be sold to alleviate its financial situation. In February of this year, Peru21 estimated, with the help of appraiser Manuel Barboza, that only the value of eight of these properties exceeds US$166 million. (See images of the properties).
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