With the failure of the last tender to capture gas in the Amazon flares in clusters 1, 2 and 3 – this time due to the failure of Petroecuador -, the gas sector is experiencing a new setback. Previously, the tender for cluster 4, which was also announced for the extraction of accompanying gas, was cancelled. Furthermore, the bidding process for the Amistad gas field (which is located in the sea) has not been conducted to date. And this despite the fact that Minister Fernando Santos assured that the said tender will last until the end of 2022.

Between 2018 and 2020, there were two previous initiatives to exploit associated gas from the Amazon. It is that oil fields generate gas from crude oil in their operation. However, this has not been used for 50 years and instead it was decided to burn it in the open and create pollution. The first initiative was called Exploitation of accompanying gas from the Amazon region, which had no major consequences. In 2020, there was a project with the World Bank, which also failed. The new government discussed the gas capture initiative, which started in 2022 and is now not completed until 2023.

The last inconvenience was the declaration of tenders for clusters 1, 2 and 3, where there are 167 lighters. After a bidding process of several months, the Amazon Tech pre-consortium was declared the winner and the contract had to be signed.

However, yesterday Energy Minister Fernando Santos assured that he was informed by the manager of Petroecuador that the process would be declared null due to the failure of the state company itself.

This is happening while the Government already has to fulfill the sentence won by the nine girls from the Amazon, who demanded that the lighters be turned off, because it caused them serious environmental consequences and catastrophic diseases.

Although they have not yet received an official notification from Petroecuador, the leaders of the American company Amazon Tech announced yesterday that they are ready to achieve the last legal consequences against government officials, and reminded that public officials can be accused of “act or omission” if they do not allow the process to be carried out. Even more so when you consider that this issue creates catastrophic diseases for the inhabitants of the Amazon.

Gavin Clarkson, a representative of Amazon Tech, assured that they have adequate financial strength, that they have met all the conditions of Petroecuador, which is why they find no reason to declare the tender invalid. She also told about her experience at Amazon and explained that the girls who sued the state have parents with cancer, and she hopes that such a situation will not continue.

William Stills, the Ecuadorian manager of Arkose Energy, which is part of the Amazon Tech consortium, was outraged because he believes that government authorities do not see the urgency of solving the problem. Consider that this could take another year, and the contamination will continue in the meantime. The company offers to use the gas from the lighters and thus extinguish them, in 27 months. For Stills, there are sectors that have survived 50 years of importing this energy source and therefore do not want any changes.

Currently, 123 million cubic feet are being released in the Amazon per day. But using that gas would equate to savings of about $500 million in gasoline and $900 million in energy. Additionally, it would stop emitting 3.8 tons of toxic gases. This option, they said, could pave the way for the country to even consider issuing green bonds. This will create new jobs.

Meanwhile, Jorge Luis Hidalgo, manager of Green Power, another company that was also competing to collect the gas, agrees that the declaration of nullity will surely mean another year’s delay. This year, more will be spent on imported fuels (LPG, gasoline and natural gas) and there will be more pollution in the Amazon.

For Hidalgo, history repeats itself and believes that it is not possible to believe in the deadlines set by Minister Santos, as a clear example is what happened with Campo Amistad. He reminded that last year only in LPG (domestic gas) about 1000 million dollars should have been imported. He expressed regret that “any process of exploiting our energy resources that serves to reduce our dependence on imports ends up being boycotted under any pretext.” Whom is our government defending?, he asked himself and assessed that the best interests of the country are not being defended.