Camisea Gas Pipeline

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Camisea Gas Pipeline, known locally as Gasoducto Camisea, is an operating natural gas pipeline in Peru.

Location

Transporting natural gas from Block 88 of the Camisea gas fields in Peru's Amazon basin, the Camisea pipeline originates at the Malvinas separation plant in Sabeti (Cuzco department), continues west across the Andes to Peru's Pacific coast, and follows the coast north to Lurín (Lima department). From Lurín, distribution pipelines transport natural gas on to the urban centers of Lima and Callao. The pipeline passes through the departments of Cusco, Ayacucho, Ica and Lima.

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Project Details

• Operator: TGP (Transportadora de Gas del Peru)
• Parent Company: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (49.87%), Enagás (28.95%), Sonatrach (21.18%)
• Current capacity: 15.92 bcm/y (1540 MMcfd)
• Length: 730 km
• Diameter: 18 inches (coastal section), 24 inches (trans-Andes section), 32 inches (Amazon basin)
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 2004

Background

The Camisea Gas Pipeline system is operated under a 33-year concession granted in 2000 by the Peruvian government to Transportadora de Gas Peruano, an international consortium whose members originally included Tecgas, Pluspetrol, Hunt Oil Company, SK Corporation, Sonatrach and Grana y Montero. The pipeline passes directly through indigenous territory in the Amazon, connecting to wells in a reserve established for the previously isolated Nahua-Kugapakori peoples in southern Peru.

In October 2021, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo called for the nationalization of the Camisea gas field in an attempt to return assets to the people.

Leaks, Accidents, and Shutdowns

The pipeline began operating in August 2004. By March 2006 there had already been five major leaks along the pipeline. An independent audit by E-Tech in 2006 attributed these accidents to poor planning and construction, including: "improperly certified welders; fast promotions from welder’s helper to welder; improperly welded pipe ends; risky pipe jointing used to adapt to difficult terrain rather than searches for more stable routes. The audit also found that 30 to 40 percent of the pipe materials were left over from other South American projects and of substandard quality. Leaks and other accidents along the pipeline have continued in subsequent years.

In December 2019 Peru's government, at the behest of military officials, placed the Camisea pipeline under a state of emergency due to the perceived threat of guerrilla attacks on the section of pipeline that passes through the VRAEM (Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro), a major drug-trafficking area. The emergency declaration was subsequently extended multiple times in two-month increments, with the latest declaration remaining in effect through December 2020.

Environmental & Human Impact

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Tribes impacted by the Camisea gas project

Critics of the pipeline and the Camisea Gas Project have cited its negative impact on human health, the environment, and the lives of indigenous people in the area. Camisea is “a tale of political scandal, technical flaws, and environmental degradation,” said Maria Ramos of Amazon Watch in 2006. The Overseas Private Investment Corporation and Export-Import Bank of the U.S. initially rejected Camisea financing for environmental reasons, and financial services company Citigroup withdrew under pressure from activists. The project then obtained financing from the Inter-American Bank.

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Oxfam reporting on changes brought to communities by Camisea - 2010

Indigenous groups impacted by the Camisea gas pipeline project cited the following as challenges: inadequate government support for consultation and dialogue, lack of capacity in local government, inadequate compensation for areas deforested, company noncompliance to local development project, and the disturbance of fauna by construction. Fish stocks have declined, solid waste management has been inadequate, disease has been spread by employees of the company to indigenous populations unaccustomed to contact with diseases such as influenza & whooping cough, and infrastructure has brought a population to the area that doesn't have adequate municipal resources to support them.

In 2004, infant mortality in Malanksiari village reached 40% while outbreaks of disease were becoming more pervasive across indigenous communities.

In 2006 the Peruvian government’s Office of the People’s Defender criticized Camisea for violating indigenous rights, attributing a rise in cases of diarrhea, syphilis, and other illnesses to instances of prohibited contact between workers and native people.

In 2011, as a response to the decimation of the fish population in the river some locals were hoping to move to fish farming with the assistance of TGP. Local populations had spent years trying to adapt to a river without fish and traditional diets have been replaced with canned fish and packaged goods leading to malnutrition.

In 2013, the United Nations called for the ‘immediate suspension’ of any plans to expand the Camisea Gas project, due to the high likelihood that by further intrusion into the Nahua-Nanti Reserve, several uncontacted and isolated tribes who live in the territory could be placed at risk of disease and death, as well as extreme scarcity brought on by disruption to game animals. The territory also serves as a buffer zone for Manu National Park, considered by UNESCO to be "the most biodiverse place on earth." The World Bank conducted a study that found the project would have "negative irreversible impacts on the biodiversity of [the] area and on indigenous groups living in isolation, regardless of the implementation of the strictest mitigation measures."

In 2016, a health emergency was declared due to the mercury epidemic impacting the Nahua population as well as a lack of clean, potable water.

Articles and resources

External articles

Wikipedia also has an article on Camisea Gas Pipeline (Camisea Gas Project. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License].