Peru is pushing forward with an expansion of the country’s biggest natural gas project despite concerns about its potential impact on indigenous tribes living deep inside a remote Amazon reserve. The Mines and Energy Ministry this week approved a key environmental permit that will allow the Camisea consortium to carry out a $480 million exploration program at its Block 88 concession. The consortium, led by Argentina’s Pluspetrol Norte SA, plans to drill 18 exploration wells and conduct seismic testing in a part of the concession that overlaps with the Kugapakori-Nahua-Nanti indigenous reserve. President Ollanta Humala’s administration is keen on finding new reserves at the Camisea gas fields, which are an important source of tax revenue and seen as a supply of low-cost fuel for the national market. The consortium paid $1.3 billion in royalties in 2013. Camisea produces almost all of Peru’s natural gas from Block 88 and […]