LatAmOil: Peru LNG halts production

The Peru LNG consortium has suspended operations at its natural gas liquefaction plant in Pampa Melchorita, citing an issue with one of its compressors. Jeanne Phillips, a senior vice-president at Hunt Oil, the leader of Peru LNG, confirmed the shutdown last week and indicated that the consortium had taken the plant offline on or about May 7.

Phillips said that Peru LNG hoped to resume operations in the near future and stressed that the group was determined to resolve the problem with its compressor. “Peru LNG is working tirelessly to repair the issue and to restore the plant to full operation by the end of this month,” she wrote.

As of press time, it was not clear whether the consortium would be able to load any cargoes for export this month. Peru LNG typically produces enough LNG to load four or five cargoes per month, but it only loaded three cargoes in April, according to Platts.