This November 14, 2023, EP Petroecuador invited 22 companies that are part of the Registry of Suppliers of the International Trade Administration to be part of the bidding process for the import of natural gas, with the purpose of supplying the demand for 45 million cubic feet of natural gas per day needed for the Termogás Machala plant, in in accordance with the provisions established in the Ministerial Agreement MEM-MEM-2023-0019-AM of October 3, 2023.

It is expected that in the next 15 days, i.e. on November 29, 2023, the opening of offers from interested companies for this tender will be held, which will be held publicly, via live broadcast on official social networks. because the state-owned oil company was in charge of all processes of buying and selling hydrocarbons. The new government will be in office until November 29, which will take office on November 23.

According to information provided by the general manager of Petroecuador, Reinaldo Armijos, the idea would be for private companies to bring gas in isotanks that would then arrive by land at Termogás Machala, in the province of El Oro. The energy authorities talked about the fact that imported gas would serve to alleviate the current problem of power outages and dry water. However, everything says that imports will not be useful for this dry season, but maybe for future ones.

According to the bases, it is expected that the reservation could be made 135 days (four and a half months) after the signing of the contract. However, several interested companies have already commented that they will not be able to deliver the gas for six or eight months.

At the same time, a tender is underway for Campo Amistad, which instead seeks to optimize local natural gas production. However, at the moment there is only one company in the tender. The results should be known in the coming weeks.