He Petroecuador’s CEO, Ramón Correa Vivanco, announced this weekend that “the bidding process will begin in the coming days for contracting specific integrated services for field of friendship. For this process, the public company generated technical, economic, contractual and environmental information, which was approved by the Company’s Contracts Committee, which is a previous step to be known and approved by the EP Petroecuador Board of Directors.

That’s right, according to the company’s data, in the first half of 2023. EP Petroecuador registered accumulated production of 3,870 million cubic feet of natural gas (654,000 barrels of oil equivalent) in Block 6, Amistad field, it is located 60 kilometers from Machala, in the Gulf of Guayaquil. This figure represents 97.85% of the planned target of the public company.

The general director of the state oil company Ramón Correa Vivanco did technical visit to the platform this weekend offshore. Together with the company’s technicians and authorities, he confirmed his commitment to ensure the safety and well-being of the workers, who spare no effort to guarantee the company’s activity and thus protect the heritage of all Ecuadorians.

During this visit, he also informed that the contractual scheme includes:

The friendship platform is the only operation offshore existing in the country. Production began in October 2002. It currently consists of four platforms, a twelve-inch pipeline, three production wells, a dehydration plant and a helipad. This hydrocarbon is used to replace the consumption of LPG and diesel in industries, including thermoelectric ones.

The Amistad field concession and consequent private investment there will generate more gas production. This is necessary to cover the fuel needs of power plants, such as Termogás Machala (which, according to Cenace, needs up to 50 million additional cubic meters for its production), as well as industry in general. Gas is much more environmentally friendly and cheaper than diesel.

Competition from A field of friendship has been announced Minister of Energy Fernando Santos until the end of 2022; However, more than seven months have passed, and this has not materialized, among other things, due to delays related to changes in government, changes in strategies. In recent statements, the minister said that the process will take place in July.

EP Petroecuador is responsible for 80% of the equivalent national production of crude oil, which includes oil and gas, through work on 25 oil blocks: 22 in the Amazon and 3 on the coast.