The public company Petroecuador assures that the field tender for Amistad, which was announced on August 9, continues. This comes amid various questions from the companies themselves who are interested in changing the rules after the launch and the perception that the best contract figure is not being applied, as well as possibly high bid prices. Likewise, statements by the manager of the Electric Corporation of Ecuador (Celec), Gonzalo Uquillas, have raised concerns that about 45 million cubic feet of gas per day (mmpcd) must be imported (six months) or face unconsciousness.

In recent days, there were even rumors that the process had been “deregistered”, which Petroecuador categorically denied. The company indicated that there was an extension of the deadline for answers to questions and clarifications, due to the large number of questions received. The original schedule provided for questions and clarifications to be given from August 24 to 28, and answers to be given from September 29 to September 4. But now it has been extended till September 12. The next milestone is the delivery of the first envelope, to those interested, on September 29.

On this topic, Nelson Jaramillo, from Sycar (an import company that also participates in the process of optimizing the production of Amistad), assures that Petroecuador was very diligent and acted in a very professional manner in the development of the tender. However, he makes a few observations about the process. considers that the neglect of requirements such as non-refundable payment for registration in the process by interested parties or payment for the right to review information about data package It allows greater participation of companies, but the weakness is that the quality and economic capacity of the bidders are not discriminated in the process, which requires investments between 170 and 200 million dollars.

Jaramillo believes the contract model is “definitely not the best for offshore operations.” Explaining that this is not a tender for operators, but for drilling service providers, the contract for Specific Integrated Services with contractor financing does not allow for field management or reserve-based financing, which must be the strength of any extractive project.

The expert explains that payment for services is given by increasing production, but the designed curve does not ensure constant production, but a production peak in 2026 of 73 mmcfd with a decline in production of 20% to 25% per year. This is not commercially advantageous, since the natural gas production of the Amistad field has online consumption from the Termogás Machala plant and the Petroecuador and Gas Vesubio liquefaction plants. Therefore, the projected production curve does not ensure continuous long-term supply of these customers. This translates into an inability to plan for asset development downstream of the Amistad field.

So Jaramillo says that “if the offers are made, they will be expensive, and possibly above the official price of natural gas from the Amistad field, which is regulated by executive order.” In this sense, the question arises, if this happens, how will Petroecuador act? Will a new subsidy be created in the country?

Jaramillo recommends that Petroecuador manage gas resources in such a way that it can guarantee a production profile that is stable over time.

‘Celec manager’s statements create uncertainty’

Meanwhile, Jorge Luis Hidalgo, manager of Green Power, a company interested in participating, believes the bid proposal is far from perfect, but Petroecuador officials patiently explained the reasons for several decisions. To give an example, the question was asked why I can’t get payment in kind with energy as a co-production. And they replied that with the verdict of the Constitutional Court, that possibility remained invalid.

However, Hidalgo assures that he draws their attention to the fact that from the same day when the field tender for Amistad was announced and literally a few minutes after that, Minister Santos mentioned to the media that an “international expert” had been brought in to propose a solution to the structure of the Amistad field to receive a barge with imported gas. Hidalgo assures that this changes the initial conditions of competition and creates enormous uncertainty among investors, who cannot understand how national gas production can be shared with imported gas.

The uncertainty, he says, is also created by the statements of Gonzalo Uquillas, the manager of Celec, the operator of the most important gas client Termogás Machal, who announces that either gas is imported or there is a power outage.

Hidalgo points out that although Uquillas indicates that Petroecuador’s reports on Amistad show that it is not possible to use that infrastructure for imported gas, surprisingly he mentions that an international expert has already been hired to tell Celec whether it can be used or not. Petroecuador’s infrastructure. This attitude, according to Hidalgo, suggests that Celec is above Petroecuador and is ordering it how to use infrastructure that is beyond its control.

The businessman explains that Uquillas is wrong to point out that it would take four to five years to increase Amistad’s production. The increase in production takes place in stages and the first thing that must be done is the recording of wells and maintenance without jackup, that in three months of operation, production can be increased by about 10 to 15 mmcfd. Furthermore, he says that from there, in the second phase, which would last a year, a you work too much important wells to increase production by another 20 mmcfd, and then new drilling that would be ready in a year and a half to increase production to 70 or more mmcfd.

In any case, he assures that technicians know that the solution of connecting imported gas to Amistad is technically unfeasible and impossible to achieve as a solution for this dry period. In this regard, he claims that “the only thing they intend to do is to boycott this competition, where, surprisingly, despite the political challenges and the change of government, along with GreenPower, there are ten companies competing for the prize”.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Energy and Oil Company Workers (Antep) believes that the best scenario for gas would be for the state to produce it itself with an investment of 173 million dollars. The organization claims to draw attention to how the government is ready to spend $320 million a year on natural gas imports, but says it does not have $173 million over three years to invest in increasing production in the field, which is why it seeks to delegate a private company that invests. For workers, importing is a big business only for private individuals and foreigners, not for Ecuador. On the other hand, they say that “it is not necessary to bid for the field either. Government investment would be immediately recouped if she decides to do it herself.”

According to Petroecuador’s schedule, envelope 1 is expected to be received on September 29 and envelope 2 on October 11. Thus, the award would be on October 24, and the contract would be signed on November 8.