Kuntur Transportadora de Gas has signed an agreement with the Peruivan government to build a new pipeline to transport gas from the controversial Camisea field to the south of the country. Construction of the 700-mile pipeline is due to begin in 2010 and be complete by 2013.

Kuntur is a subsidiary of New York-based Conduit Capital, “a private equity investment firm focused on the significant investment opportunities presented by the independent electric power industry in Latin America and the Caribbean.”

While the pipeline is being advertised as a way to alleviate the poverty of southern Peru, as usual the new infrastructure is really meant to benefit heavy industry.

“In addition to the pipeline we could see billions of dollars of incremental investment, including petrochemical plants, power plants and cement plants,” said Kuntur President Samuel D. Gómez.

The Camisea field was one of many infrastrucuture sites that indigenous protesters recently shut down in protests over industrial exploitation of their territories.