Peru said it plans to decrease the royalty payments it receives from oil companies by July in a bid to survive the oil price crash.
The country said it also might allow firms to postpone part of their payments.
The move, which was announced by Perupetro, said 20 companies with exploratory contracts and three with extractive rights have declared force majeure as the drop in oil price hits profits.
Since 2014, crude oil prices have decreased by about 70%.
Rafael Zoeger, the president of Perupetro, said:”Otherwise what’s going to happen is they’re going to start giving up their oil blocks.
“Companies that can’t do business are going to leave.”
Several global oil companies operate in Peru, including Pacific Exploration & Production, Perenco, China National Petroleum Agency and Ecopetrol.
Peru is a net oil importer, and its production dropped to 58,000 barrels per day in 2015, almost half of peak production in the 1970s.
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