Peru's Entire LNG Export Trade Flows Through a Single Terminal Fed by Camisea

A bulk commodity that looks simple and is anything but

Natural gas reads, on paper, like the easiest Peruvian export to understand. One product, one liquefaction plant, one set of fields behind it. But that apparent simplicity hides the real risk: Peru's LNG trade is a single-asset, single-corridor business. There is no second terminal, no alternative loading port, and no diversified pool of suppliers to fall back on. When buyers and analysts talk about Peruvian gas, they are really talking about the output of one facility at Pampa Melchorita.

That structure makes volumes swing more than the headline numbers suggest. Loadings fell to just 38 cargoes in 2021 during the pandemic, recovered to 51 in 2022, then climbed to 55 in 2023 and 57 in 2024. A single maintenance window, a field interruption, or a shift in the offtaker's trading book moves the entire national figure. For anyone tracking Peru as a supply origin, gas behaves nothing like the country's fragmented agricultural exports.

The other complication is that liquefied natural gas is not a spot-market free-for-all at origin. The full Peruvian output is contracted and lifted by Shell, the consortium member that markets all of the plant's volumes, then redirected across Asia, Europe and the Americas depending on price arbitrage. The cargo that loads at Melchorita this month may be reassigned in transit. That makes the export destination map a moving picture rather than a fixed set of trade lanes.

Why Peru sits where it does on the LNG map

Peru's place in global LNG rests on the Camisea fields in the Cusco Amazon, the largest natural gas resource in the country, and on the Pampa Melchorita plant built to liquefy gas from Camisea Blocks 56 and 88. The terminal, run by a consortium of Hunt Oil as operator alongside MidOcean Energy, Shell and Marubeni, has a nominal capacity near 4.45 million metric tons a year and has run in recent years at roughly 80 to 90 percent of that, loading close to 4 million tons in 2024. It remains South America's only LNG export terminal, which gives Peru a structural niche larger gas producers in the region do not occupy.

The export value follows the volume. Peru's natural gas exports were worth on the order of 1.2 billion US dollars FOB in 2024, a meaningful slice of the country's hydrocarbon export earnings even as mining dominates the overall trade balance. Because the gas is sold as LNG into globally priced markets, the dollar value tracks international gas prices as much as it tracks the tonnage that leaves Melchorita.

Markets are genuinely diversified on the demand side. In 2024, South Korea took roughly 30 percent of cargoes and the Netherlands about 21 percent, with China, Japan and Taiwan together accounting for another large share and France, the UK, Spain and Canada rounding out the list. That spread across Asia, Europe and North America is what lets Peru keep a single plant running near capacity: when one regional price weakens, cargoes are steered elsewhere.

What this means for how we map Peru's energy base

For a sourcing audience, natural gas and LNG are the part of Peru's export base where 'choosing the right supplier' is not the question, because there is effectively one. The value of understanding this segment is different: it anchors the macro picture. LNG is the country's flagship single-asset bulk export, and reading its volumes, destinations and FOB value gives a clean read on how Peru's heavy energy trade is moving year to year.

It also sets a useful contrast. Almost everything else Peru exports, from blueberries to apparel to fishmeal, runs through many producers of uneven quality, which is exactly where supplier selection decides outcomes. Gas is the exception that proves the rule: a concentrated, contracted, single-origin commodity sits at one end of the spectrum, and a long tail of fragmented producers sits at the other.

We cover natural gas and LNG here for completeness, so the full energy and bulk-commodities map is on the table when buyers size up Peru as an origin. The figures that matter for this segment are the macro ones, volume, value and destination mix, and we keep them current rather than turning them into a supplier shortlist.

Common questions

How much LNG does Peru export and what is it worth?

In 2024 Peru loaded about 3.98 million metric tons of LNG across 57 cargoes, and natural gas exports were worth roughly 1.2 billion US dollars FOB. Volumes have recovered steadily from the 2021 low and have run near the plant's nominal capacity of about 4.5 million tons a year.

Where does Peru's LNG come from and where does it go?

All of Peru's LNG is liquefied at the Pampa Melchorita terminal from gas produced in the Camisea fields, mainly Blocks 56 and 88. In 2024 the largest destinations were South Korea at about 30 percent of cargoes and the Netherlands at about 21 percent, followed by China, Japan, Taiwan and several European and North American markets.

Why is Peruvian LNG considered a concentrated export?

Because there is only one export terminal, one resource base behind it, and a single international offtaker that lifts the full output. Unlike Peru's farm and seafood exports, which come from many producers of uneven quality, LNG is a single-asset, single-corridor commodity, which is why its national volume swings with one plant's operations.

About the data: Figures compiled from public trade and energy-sector reporting for 2021 to 2025; volumes in metric tons, value in USD FOB; destination shares are of cargoes loaded. Figures reflect Peru export data curated and classified by Peru Sourcing Partners.