Petroperu still operating without a board after last month’s mass resignation

(WO) – Peru’s government can’t find board members to lead its struggling state-owned oil company more than five weeks after its last board resigned.

“It is pretty complicated to find the right people,” Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzen said on Wednesday during a press conference at his office in Lima.

Petroleos del Peru S.A. has been operating without board members since a mass resignation on Sept. 10. In a letter, the board and its chairman, Oliver Stark, said that government indecision about a much-needed bailout had prompted their collective decision to resign. They said the company was “broke” and “unsustainable.”

The company’s high debt and low liquidity stem from the construction of its new Talara Refinery, which is over budget and behind schedule, throwing Petroperu’s finances into disarray. The company has been a drag on the public treasury, requiring several billions of dollars in government support over the last few years.

Since the board’s resignation, Finance Minister Jose Arista has repeatedly said that the old board would resume duties or that a new one would be named shortly, failing to deliver on every deadline he set. Adrianzen at the press conference could offer no assurances.

“I know we had already committed to naming a new board at earlier dates, yes, I know,” Adrianzen said, adding that he could not say when the board would finally be named. “I feel uncomfortable even giving a date,” he said.