Lima, June 26 (IANS) Peruvian energy company Petro-Tech has found a new gas field on the country’s northwest coast that could give some 20 million cubic feet of gas per day boosting its bid for self-sufficiency, EFE news agency said quoting a newspaper report. The field, located on the coast of Piura, some 1,000 km north of Lima, could have potential natural gas reserves of between 350 million and 840 million cubic feet, El Comercio daily reported Wednesday.

The new San Francisco field is the second gas field discovered in northwestern Peru after the 2007 find of the San Pedro gas field, which could contain about 360 million cubic feet of gas.

With the discoveries, northern Peru’s potential gas reserves could now be between 600 million and 1.2 billion cubic feet, Radio Programas de Peru reported.

Camisea, the country’s largest field located in the Andean region of Cuzco, has 13.6 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves, and last March the firm BPX Energy announced the discovery of a field that could achieve a production rate of 40 million cubic feet per day.

Peru, a net oil importer, hopes to become a net exporter in 2010.