Energy Minister Fernando Santos is preparing to declare force majeure and thus inform the companies that buy Ecuadorian oil that, at least for the next few days, they will not be able to deliver oil due to the problem that arose this February 22 in the Marker River, a tributary of the Coca River.

The reason is the interruption of the pumping of two oil pipelines, the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE) operated by the state-owned Petroecuador and the privately owned Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP), and the Shushufindi Quito multi-oil pipeline (which transports derivatives for internal consumption), caused by heavy rains in the area of ​​El Reventador, which caused the bridge on the Marker River to collapse.

The problem in Marker is part of the chaos created by the regressive erosion of the Coca River and its tributaries, as it has caused the foundations of both the bridge, which has already fallen, and the pipelines themselves, which are now in the air and will soon break, to weaken.

This Thursday, February 23, the Minister of Energy, Fernando Santos, said in an interview with news today that Petroecuador has requested that force majeure be declared and this will be done in the next few hours. This will allow the country, based on an episode that could not have been foreseen, to suspend exports without sanctions or penalties.

For the minister, the measure will also be taken to guarantee the refinery and fuel consumption within the country. “We will organize the export of crude oil, it will not go abroad. What is in Balao will feed the refineries and avoid internal shortages. This oil will be used for refining and consumption,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said that crude oil will continue to be produced in the Amazon region until the storage tanks are full, and then wells in the area will have to be shut down because there will be no more storage space.

All this, in the midst of a problem that, according to the minister, Petroecuador reckons will take seven to ten days to solve. A variant of the tube is under construction.

In the meantime, he emphasized that the pipelines had not ruptured, but to avoid any environmental problem, crude oil had already been released from the pipeline. He assured that if there is a rupture, since the bases where the pipelines are located are affected, there will be no spillage.

On the other hand, he ruled out a fuel shortage. What will happen is a delay in export due to force majeure. There is currently about 20 to 25 days worth of crude oil to refine, and Ecuador is constantly importing gasoline and diesel to supplement its supply and will not stop doing so.

For its part, Petroecuador reported that its personnel continue to activate the Emergency and Contingency Plan in the Marker River (Napo) area, mobilizing equipment and materials for the containment and recovery of hydrocarbons in SOTE and the Shushufindi Quito pipeline. In accordance with the planned planning, currently the logistics operation of hydrocarbon drainage in the Shushufindi-Quito polyduct is fully completed, and the evacuation tasks continue in SOTE.

He also said that teams from different areas of the company are taking all preventive measures to avoid environmental impacts in the area and are conducting constant monitoring to maintain early warnings.

The location where the Marker River collapsed is 21 meters from the last recorded problems in the Quijos River.