Ecuador plans export 111.4 million barrels of crude oil in 2023. But of this number, some 52.9 million barrels are already committed to Asian companies such as Petrochina, Unipec and Petrothailand; and another portion, some 14 million, with companies from the American continent market (Shell, Marathon and Petroperú).
The balance of the exportable supply, about 44.5 million barrels, that is, 39.94% of said offer, will be destined for sale spots –market sales, with a better price than the long-term contracts entered into with the Asian companies–. In this way, the Ministry of Energy drew the map of crude oil deliveries for the coming year.
That 39.94% that will go on sale spots It is a figure that more than doubles what had been allocated last year and which was around 17%.
Petroecuador reported that so far in 2022 the state company has produced income of $1,535 million for eleven sales spots of crude oil. It also confirmed that it reached 17% of the exportable supply through this route, exceeding the 10% established in the standard, with the consequent benefit for the State.
Sales highlights spots is that this type of operation allows updating oil prices and the continuous participation of companies and refining and marketing companies, which makes it possible to maximize the economic benefits for the country.
Exports in the modality spots corresponded seven to Oriente crude and four to Napo crude.
On the other hand, from what can be observed in the export structure, pre-sales to Asian companies such as Petrochina, Unipec and Petrothailand represent 52.9 million barrels, that is, 47.47% of the exportable supply. So you can see that only Petrochina has commitments for almost 30%. The new contract alone that was announced as part of the renegotiation represents 17.2% of the offer. Despite the fact that a significant percentage goes to Asian companies, it is less than 80% that was maintained in past years, product of the high commitments acquired in correísmo.
Deliveries to China are currently flowing normally, but it is not yet known what has happened to the renegotiated oil contracts with Petrochina. Well, there was a problem in the process, since when these contracts had to be signed, Petroecuador’s management decided to leave the now ex-manager of International Trade Pablo Noboa and the contracts were left in a kind of limbo, which was noticed by the assemblyman Fernando Villavicencio.
But the country not only produces the oil it exports, but also a good amount is used for internal consumption: both for loading refineries and for paying fees to private companies working on service contracts. Thus, for the loading of refineries, 57.3 million barrels, while for the payment of the rates have been allocated 17.9 million barrels.
In this way, the Government hopes to produce in total 186.8 million this 2023, which is equivalent to about 511,800 barrels per day. A slightly higher figure appeared in the proforma (188 million barrels per year). In either case, the goal sounds pretty high considering the current state of oil production. According to the data of the Agency for the Regulation and Control of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources (ARC)on December 7 production was at 494,404 barrels per day. Of these, 385,132 barrels correspond to Petroecuador production and 109,271 to private companies.
The country’s oil sales represent an important income for the proforma budget that has forecast a crude oil price of $65. The structure of such sales is defined, but the income is subject to price volatility. Thus, although the Assembly has said that the price should be in the $90 by 2023, these days there has been a significant drop. The price of Ecuadorian crude has gone from $104 in June to $80 per barrel in October, according to data from the Central Bank. For this December, the theoretical prices calculated by Petroecuador for Ecuadorian crude are located at $64.43 per barrel. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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