BPZ Energy Signs Memorandum of Understanding with SUEZ Energy Peru
HOUSTON, Jun 19, 2006 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BPZ Energy, Inc. (OTC:BPZI) today announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with SUEZ Energy Peru S.A. (SEP) to evaluate the sale of natural gas from the Company's Corvina natural gas field located offshore northwestern Peru, as fuel for a planned 180 megawatt gas-fired thermoelectric power plant to be developed by SEP near the town of Arenillas, Ecuador. At peak capacity, this facility is expected to require about 45 million standard cubic feet per day of natural gas. SEP is controlled by SUEZ (NYSE:SZE), a major international industrial group that engages in the development, design, implementation, and operation of energy and environment systems and networks, which had revenues of approximately $52 billion in 2005.
The scope of the MOU also includes the joint evaluation of a proposed natural gas export pipeline, which will transport the Company's natural gas 35 miles from the Company's mainland reception point of the offshore Corvina field production, to a central delivery point near Arenillas, Ecuador. The natural gas export project would entail marketing natural gas to industrial users and other power generators in Ecuador.
As a result of the evaluation, the Company and SEP expect to establish the basis under which they shall jointly participate in the development of the natural gas export pipeline. The signing of this MOU further enhances the Company's gas-export strategy as an important complement to its Corvina field gas-to-power project. As previously announced, the Company currently has advanced discussions with potential gas off-takers in Ecuador.
Manolo Zuniga, President and Chief Executive Officer of BPZ Energy, Inc. said: "The possibility of entering into a joint venture with SUEZ's Peruvian affiliate is exciting given SUEZ's experience and expertise in natural gas transportation, gas-to-power projects, and natural gas distribution in many countries, including Peru. Additionally, a potential extension of the proposed natural gas pipeline to the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador's industrial engine, is being considered. Guayaquil represents a sizeable industrial market for the Company's natural gas."
New high-voltage power transmission lines between Peru and Ecuador are expected to enable bi-directional power marketing in both countries. The Company and SEP believe they can integrate their respectively planned power plant operations, dispatching electricity from the proposed power generation complex near Arenillas, Ecuador and the Company's Nueva Esperanza Power Plant, located near Caleta Cruz in northwestern Peru. All these power plants are expected to utilize natural gas from the Company's Corvina field as fuel
