MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Strong interest for Peru’s bidding process for 25 oil blocks

Perupetro president Daniel Saba

Peru resumed the bidding process for more than two-dozen oil blocks, almost two years after a bribery scandal related to contracts awarded to a Norwegian company. The president of state-owned Perupetro, Daniel Saba, said that 25 new blocks will be put up for international public bidding.

“It’s very important to resume the international auction after the difficult moments we endured,” Saba said prior to the start of the bid process for the blocks, almost all located in the Amazon jungle region.

He said 24 of the exploration blocks are located in the Marañón-Ucayali river basins and in the southeastern region of Madre de Dios. The surface area of the different blocks ranges from 80,000 hectares to 850,000 hectares.

The other block is a coastal area that covers 314,132 hectares and straddles the northwestern regions of Lambayeque and Piura.

Perupetro president confirmed that the process will end on Oct. 14 with the awarding of concession rights to the blocks.

Last Friday dozens of business leaders and oil sector officials were on hand at a luxury hotel in Lima where the bidding process got underway, which Saba said was a reflection of Peru’s excellent international image.

“We’re seeing clear signs of support. This hall is full and that’s why I think this process will be a success, because last year there wasn’t and now there’s a lot of interest,” he said.

The auction of oil concessions was suspended last year over the release in late 2008 of a series of taped telephone conversations discussing alleged bribes to favour Norwegian firm Discover Petroleum.

The scandal, in which people close to the governing APRA party were also implicated, led to the resignation of President Alan Garcia’s entire Cabinet.

Although the matter is still under investigation, with legal proceedings and new accusations, the government has kept Saba at his post because he denies any wrongdoing.