Peru\‘s government expects to start to sell off shares in state-owned energy company Petroleos del Peru-Petroperu SA in the second half of the year, Finance Minister Luis Miguel Castilla said earlier this week.

According to a report by Dow Jones Newswires, his statements were confirmed by a ministry spokeswoman.

Castilla told newspaper Gestion on Thursday that, while there is authorization for a sale of up to 20% of the company, a smaller amount will likely be placed initially in the market.

Petroperu is already listed on the Lima Stock Exchange, although no shares have been sold yet.

"While the authorization is for a sale of up to 20% of the share capital, the new partners will only be slowly integrated, like what took place in Colombia with the state-owned Ecopetrol. It was also authorized to sell 20% of its shares, but up to now has only sold 9.0%," Mr. Castilla was quoted as saying.

Castilla added that retail investors will likely be able to take part in the initial public offering. He added that other state-owned companies, such as Electroperu SA, could also launch IPOs.

The finance minister also said that, later this year, the government could start to sell sovereign bonds on the local retail market.

Petroperu has a refinery, a pipeline and some retail outlets, but plans to get back into upstream production.