Adoption of the “Procedure for the attention of requests for the adaptation schedule to provisions of the Hydrocarbons Transport Regulation through pipelines adopted by Supreme Decree N° 081-2007-EM”
By Resolution of the Board of Directors OSINERGMIN N° 026-2021-OS/CD, published in the Official Gazette El Peruano, on February 19, 2021 (“Resolution“), it was decided to adopt the “Procedure for the attention of requests for the adaptation schedule to provisions of the Hydrocarbons Transport Regulation through pipelines adopted by Supreme Decree N° 081-2007-EM” (“Procedure“), in order to establish the provisions applicable to the submission, adoption and compliance with the adaptation schedules to be drawn up by certain Pipeline Operators to adapt to the provisions of the Hydrocarbons Transport Regulation through pipelines adopted by Supreme Decree N° 081-2007-EM (“Regulation“).
By Ministerial Resolution No. 453-2016-MEM/DM, the Pipeline Operators were exempted – temporarily – from complying with the obligations contained in Articles 17, 18, 21, 41, 43. 57, 58, 62 and in the Sole Supplementary Provision of Annex 1 (referred to the Safety Standards for the Transport of Hydrocarbons by Pipelines) and the Articles of Annex 2 (referred to the Pipeline Integrity System) of the Regulation. The validity of the aforementioned exemption would be subject to the period to be determined by OSINERGMIN for each Pipeline Operator taking into account the execution schedules of compliance submitted by those agents and adopted by OSINERGMIN.
However, by means of the Third Final Supplementary Provision of Supreme Decree N° 036-2020-EM, published on January 3, 2021, the MINEM provided that Pipeline Operators who at the date of publication of the mentioned supreme decree had not fully complied with the adaption schedule adopted by OSINERGMIN must submit a new schedule; which could not exceed twenty-four (24) month time limit previously approved. On the other hand, the same supreme decree provided that the Pipeline Operators that did not comply with Ministerial Resolution N° 453-2016-MEM/DM, and that at the date of publication of the supreme decree had not adapted their facilities to the provisions contained in the Articles on exoneration, had to submit to OSINERGMIN an adaptation schedule with a maximum period of forty-eight (48) months, for its adoption. In both cases, the schedules must be submitted within a maximum period of sixty (60) working days from the publication of the supreme decree.
In this sense, the adopted Procedure shall govern the attention of the requests for adoption of the adaptation schedules to be submitted by the Pipeline Operators to adapt to the exempted provisions of the Regulation, within the framework of the provisions of Supreme Decree N° 036-2020-EM.
The Resolution entered into force on the day following its publication, that is, on February 20, 2021, and shall remain in force until the completion of the adaptation schedules adopted within the framework of the Procedure and the completion of the administrative sanctioning procedures resulting from the possible non-compliance.
Any consultation on this matter may be answered by Doctors Jorge Pérez-Taiman (jpereztaiman@estudiorodrigo.com), Carolina Noriega (cnoriega@estudiorodrigo.com), Piero Scarafone (pscarafone@estudiorodrigo.com) and/or Talía Hormaeche (thormaeche@estudiorodrigo.com).
