Hydrocarbons Stationary Transport System

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Hydrocarbons Stationary Transport System, also known by its Spanish name Sistema Estacionario de Transporte de Hidrocarburos or its acronym SETH, is an operating oil pipeline in Guatemala.

Location

The pipeline runs from oil fields at Campo Xan (Petén department) and Rubelsanto (Alta Verapaz department) to the Puerto Barrios export terminal in Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla (Izabal department), Guatemala. En route, the pipeline passes through the La Libertad oil refinery (known in Guatemalan government contracts as El Nance).

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Project Details

• Owner: Perenco
• Current capacity: 30,000 bpd
• Length: 474 km / 294.5 miles
• Status: Operating
• Start Year: 1980

Background

The Hydrocarbons Stationary Transport System began transporting oil from the Rubelsanto fields in 1980 and from the Campo Xan fields in 1992 under a 25-year contract (contract number 2-85) between the Guatemalan government and Basic Resources. Rights to operate the pipeline were transferred to the French company Perenco in 2001. Upon expiration of the original contract in February 2017, the Guatemalan government announced that it would hold a new tender for rights to operate the pipeline.

Companies interested in operating and managing the pipeline system were invited to present their offers in June 2018. Perenco was the only bidder, and some elements in its proposal were identified as inadequate, necessitating a new tender. In the interim, Guatemala's government signed an emergency 18-month contract allowing Perenco to continue operating the pipeline, five pumping stations and the Piedras Negras export terminal in Puerto Santo Tomás de Castilla. In March 2019, Guatemala again extended the deadline for companies to submit new offers to operate the pipeline.

In June 2019, after two years operating the pipeline under emergency contracts, Perenco signed a new long-term contract with Guatemala's government under which the company will operate the system for another 25 years. The new contract received final government approval in July 2019.

Opposition

Guatemalan environmental groups have long resisted oil development in the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, where the SETH pipeline originates. The Guatemalan government's permissive approach to oil extraction in the region, including extension of contracts and allowing Perenco to operate without a valid environmental impact assessment, has proved controversial.