On September 8, 2006 the Inter-American Development Bank held a first meeting with civil society organizations in Washington to begin a series of consultations regarding the Perú Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) project.  The Bank signed a Mandate Letter to begin its due diligence on the project in June.

This meeting kicks off a consultation process that will include regularly scheduled conversations with civil society. A key agenda item included in today’s meeting was a discussion of the Bank’s recently published Environmental and Social Strategy for the Peru LNG project.

The Peru LNG project (“Project”) consists of the construction and operation of an LNG plant, a related marine loading terminal and a 408 km 34-inch pipeline extension which will connect the Plant to the existing Transportadora de Gas del Perú (“TGP”) gas pipeline. The PLNG pipeline will run from the end of the rainforest portion of the TGP line to the plant on Peru’s Pacific coast.

The Project will liquefy natural gas purchased from Blocks 56 and 88 in the Camisea gas fields and sell it to Repsol Comercializadora de Gas S.A. (Repsol CG) for export to markets in Mexico (and possibly Chile and the United States) for re-gasification. The Project will positively impact the energy matrix in the Latin American region.

The Mandate Letter signed in June enables the Bank to access confidential information and financial resources from the project sponsors to conduct financial, technical, environmental, social and legal due diligence. The Project will have to conform to the Bank’s rigorous standards in each of these areas, including the Bank’s new Environmental and Safeguards Compliance Policy and Indigenous Peoples Policy, in order to be considered eligible for financing.

This first consultation meeting included the participation of numerous nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and resulted in several recommendations that the Bank will take into account in the forthcoming months. The Bank and the NGOs also agreed to maintain a regular dialogue on issues of concern throughout the project’s due diligence process.