Fire Threatens the New Talara Refinery in Peru

During the morning of Friday, the Peruvian state oil company PetroPeru confirmed that a minor fire affected the facilities of the New Talara Refinery but it was quickly controlled.

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The fire occurred at around 6:05 local time in the Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCC) of the refinery. Local media showed images of a sector of the refinery from which a thick column of black smoke and some flames emerged that were fought by the state company's firefighters.

"This incident did not cause significant personal or material damage and activities in the refining complex continue to be carried out normally," PetroPeru said.

"The causes of the fire are being investigated," the oil company said, adding that it has contingency plans in all its operations for timely attention to this type of incident.

The text reads, "This is what the fire at the Talara Refinery was like. PetroPeru maintains that the incident has already been controlled."

At the beginning of September, Petroperu asked the Energy Ministry for some US$1.5 billion to mitigate the risks of an eventual fuel shortage. The company made this request due to extraordinary factors such as social conflicts and Cyclone Yaku that affected the start-up of the new Talara refinery.

On Sunday, however, Prime Minister Alberto Otarola announced that the administration of President Dina Boluarte will not deliver the requested funds because it will allocate a budget to address the effects of the upcoming El Niño.

The Boluarte administration announced that it will put out to tender three oil lots that it was going to deliver to Petroperu. This decision was made after several business groups criticized this delivery, calling it contrary to the law.