Peru’s state-owned energy firm Petroperu is negotiating with oil producers in the Americas and Asia to import about 63,000 barrels a day of crude for its newly modernized Talara refinery, the company’s president told Reuters on Wednesday.

Pedro Chira, president of Petroperu’s board of directors, said he expects to announce next week the winning companies after a 46% expansion of the refinery to 95,000 barrels per day (bpd).

“We are looking at options within Latin America and also in North America and Asia,” Chira said at his offices in Lima. “I think that in the next week we would be able to announce who our suppliers will be.”

The Talara refinery is currently in a start-up stage after a $5 billion modernization that began in 2014, and the company aims to reach full capacity from mid-July, Chira said.

Peru currently produces about 41,000 bpd of crude while national oil demand is 250,000 bpd, according to official data, so it has to import crude for its refinery as well as fuel products for its market.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Sonali Paul)