By IANS,
Lima : Peru’s state-owned petroleum company Petroperu has announced a pact with Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) to explore oil and gas in the Andean nation, Spain’s EFE news agency reported Tuesday.
“We’ll formalise the agreements that were adopted over the past few weeks and in the coming days will provide details on this association, in order to explore blocks that potentially contain gas or petroleum,” Petroperu President Cesar Gutierrez said Monday.
The alliance may also consider participating in an upcoming Peruvian government auction of 22 blocks with hydrocarbon potential, he said, adding that the auction is scheduled to open in September.
Earlier this year, RIL acquired a 90 percent stake in an oil block in the Andean region of Puno in Peru from Irish company Pan Andean Resources.
The Indian conglomerate also owns 30 percent stake in a block located in the Ene river basin that is operated by Argentina’s Pluspetrol and Australia’s Woodside Petroleum and a 10 percent stake in a block operated by Spain’s Repsol YPF for oil prospecting in the Amazon jungle region of Loreto.