Once, the Inca Empire dominated the region around what is today Peru. The conquests and expansion of this civilization, which brought half the continent under Incan domain, were funded by the natural resources beneath its feet.

Today, the path to greatness once again runs through Peru’s vast mineral wealth. Peru’s strength in natural resources has traditionally been focused on mining, yet oil and gas have a history in the country stretching back centuries, and represent a bright future for economic diversification.

In 1863, just three years after Colonel Drake drilled ...