POWER March 2014 - 65

FUEL SUPPLIES
Environmental Concerns
As in the U.S., any time a major new
pipeline or resource development project
is discussed in South America, environmental
questions are raised. For the
Camisea project, which lies partly in the
Amazon rainforest, concerns included the
displacement of indigenous people, clearcutting
of forests, and pipeline spills.
Typically, neither side in energy versus
environment debates wins everything it
wants. One example from one phase of the
Camisea project: In response to concerns
about adverse effects on the environment
and indigenous people, the multinational
development consortium led by Argentina's
Pluspetrol agreed to not build roads but
instead adopted a model used in offshore
exploration and production that uses boats
and helicopters to move equipment, supplies,
and workers to and from the site.
The potential for pipeline ruptures has
been cited by North American opponents
to new pipelines and LNG export projects,
and the Peruvian project has experienced
more than one episode of pipeline breaks.
In the first year and a half after the Camisea
project went online in 2004, it experienced
a series of pipeline breaks that a San
Diego, Calf.-based environmental consulting
firm, E-Tech International, determined
were the result of shoddy work done by
unqualified welders who used leftover corroded
pipes (though Peruvian regulatory
audits could not confirm the use of leftover
pipe). Presumably, with better oversight
and qualified workers, rupture risks
could be minimized.
Though opposition to natural gas development
on environmental grounds has not
completely subsided, some groups have
recently pointed to successful efforts to
mitigate negative environmental and cultural
consequences. In a March 2013 report
titled " Peru LNG: A Focus on Continuous
Improvement, " the International Finance
Corp. (which, along with other international
lending agencies, provided $2.05
billion to the project) concluded that
through " strong commitment to managing
environmental and social risks throughout
all phases of the project, PLNG successfully
managed and mitigated operational and
reputational risks related to their environmental
and social performance. "
-Gail Reitenbach, PhD, Editor
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63
one, how much natural gas was enough?
How would internal consumption evolve?
Would exports increase the price for local
consumers? Would exports deplete the
resources too fast? Would it be against
Peruvian energy independence? Not surprisingly,
we hear this group of questions
nowadays a little farther north.
Jaime Quijandría, who died in December
2013, was Peru's minister of energy
and mines and minister of economics and
finance between 2001 and 2004 and is recognized
as a leader and a pioneer in the Peruvian
energy sector. Quijandría, a former
president of Peru's NOC Petroperu, was
the main force behind the Peruvian energy
policymakers who were looking to make
the most of Peruvian natural gas resources
for the nation. With that objective in mind,
Quijandría and his team in the Ministry of
Energy found that the best way to accomplish
that goal was to open and find new
markets for Peruvian natural gas through
exportation. Quijandría was very aware of
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