Camisea pipelines undamaged after earthquake

Fri, 21 September 2007

Transportadora de Gas del Peru halted operations on the Camisea liquids pipeline after the natural gas fractionation plant shut down in Pisco following the earthquake that hit Peru on 15 August, a spokesman confirmed. TGP runs twin pipelines that bring gas and NGL from the Camisea gas fields in SE Peru to the coast. According to the company’s spokesman Rafael Guarderas, the pipelines didn’t suffer any damage. “Nothing happened to either pipeline. If the plant in Pisco had not shut down we would still be running,” he said in a telephone interview.

The plant in Pisco is run by Pluspetrol Peru Corp. and is located close to the epicenter of the magnitude 7.9 earthquake that hit at 6:40pm local time. Pluspetrol officials weren't immediately available for comment as they were in an emergency meeting. At least 337 people were killed and 827 other injured in the earthquake, according to figures from Peru's Civil Defense organization, and the earthquake also caused electricity, telecommunications, and transport problems in southern Peru.