Last Wednesday, President Pedro Castillo inaugurated the new Talara refinery (Piura), and people linked to the government assured that this project will allow the reduction of fuel prices in the country.
It should be noted that this refinery has the capacity to process 95,000 barrels of crude oil, and that the investment exceeded US$5,000 million, despite the fact that in 2014 the figure was estimated at US$2,730 million.
The former Vice Minister of Energy, Pedro Gamio, stated that although the modernization of the refinery will improve the quality of fuels and there will be less pollution, “this will not help to lower prices.”
“The main reason for modernization is to produce higher quality fuel. It will not be able to help at this time, of high prices in the international market, because Petroperú does not have sufficient vertical integration, it only refines”, he assured.
For the former official, the modernization began to work very late because “diesel should not be the main fuel in the country”, for which he considered that the money could be used for the massification of natural gas, but “it is already done”, he noted. . To this he added that it will be necessary to import crude oil for refining, because oil production in Peru “is in a deep crisis due to social and environmental problems.” “Right now all the batches are stopped,” he stressed.
For his part, the former Minister of Energy and Mines, Carlos Herrera Descalzi, indicated that there is a risk that the project could even cost “an additional US$2 billion.”
“The construction has taken a long time, so the interest could be about US$2,000 million. I estimate that the investment can only be recovered in 15 to 20 years”, he assured.
He indicated that the start-up of the refinery will be progressive, for which he estimated that in nine months it could operate at 100%.
FACT
In May 2014, the signing of the contract for the execution of the modernization of the refinery with the company Técnicas Reunidas of Spain was approved.
