The Ministry of Energy and Mines in Peru (Minem) recently indicated that the oil industry is ‘being reactivated’. And so far, the signs are indeed pointing in that direction, particularly for the offshore. The deal signed by TotalEnergies and Perupetro for three offshore Technical Evaluation Agreements (TEA) covering large parts of the Talara and adjacent Tumbes forearc basins in the northwest of the country was probably the most impactful in that regard. The TEAs are valid for 24 months and will allow TotalEnergies to conduct geological and geophysical evaluation in return for the right of First Option for eventual negotiation and signing of a License Agreement.
The TotalEnergies TEAs are located in the same area as Condor Energy’s TEA in the Tumbes Basin, which was signed in August 2023. Condor has reported that much of its work has been focussed on the Raya and Bonito prospects targeting Miocene reservoirs. The agreement area also contains Belco Petroleum’s 1978 Piedra Redonda gas discovery and Karoon Energy’s Marina-1, the most recent offshore well drilled in Peru in 2020.
Occidental’s 61,002 km 3D seismic survey in the Trujillo Basin is another sign that Peru’s offshore is being looked at. The three blocks, which were signed by Anadarko in 2017 ahead of the corporate purchase by Occidental in 2019, are in the second exploration phase. Previous work since award involved the reprocessing of 2D and 3D data.
Onshore
Earlier in the year, it was announced that Canadian company Altamesa Energy joined Petroperu, a state-owned entity, in Block 192. Production in the block, located in the Amazon jungle in northern Peru contiguous with Ecuador, was suspended in 2020 due to force majeure. Since it took over the operation, Petroperu has been conducting pre-operational work for the reactivation and start of oil production. The block is reported to contain some 17 oil fields.
In May 2024 PetroTal, the largest oil producer in the country, announced acquisition of Cepsa Peru which includes a 100 % interest in onshore Block 131. The block contains the producing Los Angeles oil field in the Ucayali Basin. PetroTal’s flagship asset is its 100 % interest in Bretaña oil field (Block 95) in the Maranon Basin where production is around 20,500 BPD. Meanwhile, in Block 107 PetroTal plans two wells in 2025 / 2026 on designated prospects Constutucion Sur and Osheki-Kametza targeting the Cretaceous reservoirs in the Ucayali Basin.
During the same month, Perupetro also signed an agreement with the Offshore International Group INC consortium for Block X (Talara) in the Maranon Basin, with momentum continuing in June when it signed the Temporary License Contract for Block 8 in the same basin with Upland Oil & Gas.
