EP Petroecuador reported that the production of barrels of oil equivalent (oil and gas) March 18 was drastically affected by several factors. However, as of March 19, he has already recovered. Thus, the production of Petroecuador between March 17 and 18 fell from 399,176 equivalent barrels to 376,229 equivalent barrels. A decrease of 22,947. However, for this March 19, production recovered and amounted to 383,575 barrels, still below March 17.

is it because in the earthquake registered on Saturday (with the epicenter on the island of Puná and which left at least 13 dead) there was a power failure in the National Interconnected System (SIN), which affected the Auca, Shushufindi, Indillana, Lago Agrio, Libertador, Palo Azul fields, located in the provinces of Sucumbíos and Orellana, leaving more than 17,400 barrels of extracted oil.

also On March 18, other problems were presented, for example, a severe winter storm with thunderstorms, breakdowns at pumping facilities, cable theft or sabotage also caused production to decrease by about 1,600 barrels.

Additionally, due to social paralysis, which is currently registered in the Edén Yuturi field, block 12, Orellana province, a daily loss of more than 4,900 barrels of oil is generated. Petroecuador had to declare force majeure in this block due to the suspension carried out by the Kichwa community in the area.

Petroecuador also reported this weekend that the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that occurred on Saturday affected infrastructure Field of friendship. In this case, production fell from 17.-18. March to 1 million cubic feet. Thus, from 21.5 million cubic feet per day, it came to 20.5 million cubic feet per day. Meanwhile, by March 19, it had already recovered to the initial 21.5 million cubic feet.

EP Petroecuador said that, following the principles of transparency of the current administration, it publishes these incidents and expresses that it is permanently working to recover hydrocarbon production, for the benefit of all Ecuadorians.

Likewise, the general director(s) of the company, Maria Elisa Soledispa, He appreciated the efforts of the workers of the Administration for Research and Production in the fields in the Amazon, who, despite unfavorable conditions, are working to guarantee the responsible extraction of hydrocarbons.

Oil income is important for Ecuador. However, there have been a few setbacks in recent months.

Thus, on February 22, pumping from the Transecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE) and the Shushufindi Quito polyduct was interrupted. The problem that arose due to weakening and collapse on the banks of the Market River where the bridge and supports of the two aforementioned pipelines and even the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) operated by private hands were located. This led to a 50 percent drop in production and force majeure had to be declared because it was not possible to continue with the production and export of crude oil normally.

These days it became known about the drop in the price of crude oil, hand in hand with the financial crisis in the USA and Europe, which threw the price of crude oil below the pro forma price from 2023. The national theoretical price calculated by Petroecuador on March 16 was 54.8 dollars per barrel, $10 less than the pro forma forecast of $64.8.