The Ministers of Transport and Public Works, Marcelo Cabrera, and of Energy, Juan Carlos Bermeo toured the area of regressive erosion last Saturday.
Technical alternatives to reestablish walkability on the Baeza – Lago Agrio road and resume the transportation of oil and gasoline, through the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE), Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) and the Shushufindi – Quito Poliducto were what the authorities reviewed in the third Technical Working Table for inter-institutional coordination against the effects of the natural phenomenon of erosion registered in the Piedra Fina river, in the province of Napo.
Petroecuador guarantees that there will be a supply of fuel, after the collapse of a section of the Baeza – Lago Agrio highway
This past Saturday, among other national and sectional authorities, the Ministers of Transport and Public Works, Marcelo Cabrera, and of Energy, Juan Carlos Bermeo, were present.
Minister Cabrera confirmed the road situation in the area and explained that alternatives are being analyzed in the short and medium term with the objective that the road can be enabled for traffic, through the start of maintenance works on the “Y” section of Narupa – Loreto-Coca, as an alternate route. He arranged to keep machinery and technical personnel permanently in the area.
As a priority axis, coordination was established with the Secretariat for Risk Management, the National Police and other institutions that help maintain the safety of those who pass through the area.
For his part, the Minister of Energy together with the managers of EP Petroecuador, Pablo Luna; from OCP, Jorge Vugdelija; Y the director of the Rio Coca Executive Commission, Roque Proaño, visited the area construction of the emergent bypass of 280 meters, which will allow to resume the pumping of hydrocarbons and verified the progress of the seventh variant of the SOTE.
SOTE suspended pumping due to the regressive erosion of the Coca River, reported Petroecuador; section of the Quito-Lago Agrio highway collapsed this Friday 10
It was reported that the drainage of the pipelines had already been completed, preventing possible environmental effects. In this sense, Bermeo explained that the pumping of crude oil was suspended for security and prevention reasons, but that “we are working together with the OCP and Petroecuador in a solution that allows restarting crude oil transportation operations in the shortest possible time”
The Minister of Energy assured that there is a sufficient stock of fuels to meet the demand in Ecuador and the supply is normal throughout the country.
Technical personnel from various institutions would carry out uninterrupted work in the sector and monitoring is maintained constant of the natural phenomenon. Likewise, the mechanisms early warning to evaluate the best alternatives and make timely decisions.
Since the morning of last Friday, the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) and the Shushufindi – Quito Poliducto stopped pumping crude oil and fuel at the same time. At the moment, as a measure preventive, crude oil pumping operations remain suspended and fuel derivatives, through SOTE and the Shushufindi – Quito Poliducto, however, fuel dispatch and distribution operations are normal in the country. (I)
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