MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chile-Peru consortium to invest in natural gas plant

A Chilean-Peruvian consortium plans to invest 650 million USD in a project to produce ammonium and ammonium nitrate from natural gas, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said Wednesday.

According to official news agency Andina, Garcia said Peru's Brescia Group and Chile's Sigdo Koppers are looking to set up "a petrochemical production centre" that will "give added value to Peruvian gas and thereby generate greater earnings." After meeting with the representatives of both companies at the presidential palace in Lima, Garcia said up to 3,000 jobs would be creating in building the new plant and 400 more to keep it running. Garcia also said the project would give added value to a Peruvian natural resource, increasing the price paid for the fossil fuel and boosting the country's foreign currency reserves. "The offer to invest 650 million dollars is a very important demonstration of confidence in Peru's financial and political stability and I think the place where it is to be installed (the southern coastal town of Pisco) is going to greatly benefit from the number of jobs created," Garcia said. "We have to turn this year of crisis in other countries into a year of progress, of production and employment for Peru," Garcia said. The natural gas for the plant will come from the Camisea fields, huge deposits in south-eastern Peru with an estimated 8.7 trillion cubic feet of proven reserves.