The decree reverses the effects of a similar decree signed in January 2006, the country's energy and mines ministry said in a late Thursday statement.
"The state has the obligation to guarantee the supplies of the domestic natural gas market and the state has to safeguard that this obligation is respected in the most extensive possible manner ... ," the government said in the decree.
The ministry said the 2006 decree permitted natural gas produced from block 88 to be used for LNG exports if exploration in block 56 did not yield more reserves. Only block 56 had been assigned for export in the original plans.
The Camisea reserves, which are made up of blocks 56 and 88, hold the by far biggest natural gas deposits in Peru with proved reserves of more than 11.2 Tcf. Most of those reserves are in block 88.
Peruvian Energy and Mines Minister Pedro Sanchez said earlier in August that that reserves in block 56 are believed to be adequate to last for 10 years, adding that Peru LNG, which exports 200 Bcf annually, would not tap block 88 for at least five years.
Peru has agreed with a consortium led by Hunt Oil to allow the export of 4.2 Tcf over 20 years and officials including Garcia have repeatedly said there is enough gas to do that and meet Peruvian domestic needs for decades.
The government is hoping to encourage the producers to explore more in block 56 to change probable reserves into proved. Studies have shown the area could hold more than 15 Tcf and o. Other nearby blocks may also hold more gas.
There has not been a major oil and gas discovery in Peru since the Camisea fields were found in the early 1980s. A consortium of Shell and Mobil had rights to the fields, but pulled out of the country in 1998, despite having drilled wells and built platforms, because of concerns over political
instability.
A consortium led by Argentina's Pluspetrol won rights to develop the fields after Shell and Mobil departed. The fields were developed and a pipeline was completed in 2004.
The consortium operating blocks 88 and 56 is led by Pluspetrol, which has a 27.2% stake, Hunt Oil, with a 25.2% holding, SK, which has a 17.6% stake and Repsol YPF, which holds 10%. Argentina's Tecpetrol and Algeria's Sonatrach are also partners and each have 10% stake.
The president's decree was issued after groups in the south of Peru staged protests against gas exports this month, prompting the government to offer such concessions as financing for an LPG plant.
China Chemical Weekly: http://news.chemnet.com/en/detail-1403616.html
