The tender for the Amistad gas field concession has been postponed for the third time in three months. EP Petroecuador reported that, after an analysis carried out together with the technical team, it modified the schedule established for the contracting of “Specific integrated services with financing by the Contractor for the execution of drilling and well completion activities, well recovery; and the construction and expansion of the necessary facilities in the area of ​​activity, within block 6, for the production of natural gas.”

According to the previous calendar, the acceptance phase of envelope 2 was supposed to take place on November 27, but it has now been changed to December 7, 2023. While the award of the contract was scheduled for January 2024, it has now been determined that it will be on January 12, 2024.

On that topic, Jorge Luis Hidalgo, manager of Green Power, the only company still participating in the process, as part of the Green Dynamics consortium, to obtain the said contract, assured that they remain firm in their intention to successfully complete the work. contract process, they trust the new government of Daniel Noboa and the new authorities of the sector. He commented that some obstacles arose due to the lack of communication regarding the project terms of reference (TDR), but that he worked to explain to the authorities that the company met all the requirements, but that they were not fully informed because they were not explicitly stated in the fundamentals.

Among the technical details that the company must respect are, for example, the issue of the share capital of both companies, which must be 30 million dollars according to the percentage of participation in the pledge of the consortium, and the experience of the participating companies, both in terms of time and volume (more than 10 million cubic meters and five years of operation ). Both would be fulfilled by Green Dynamics.

For Hidalgo, the new delay is correct because it is necessary for the new authorities on the ground to absorb the problem, analyze it and, if they consider it correct, decide to start the process.

Local natural gas is cheaper than imported gas and can be used to power Termogás Machal, which is a key plant to combat power outages during the dry season, for example, next year. Green Dynamics also explain that as the only participant in the tender, after there were initially twelve interested parties, they are not interested in increasing the cost of gas production, because for them natural gas is a raw material for the liquefaction process in order to market it to other areas as well. In this sense, they must be competitive in the price of gas production in order to be equally competitive in the final price of LNG.

The Green Dynamics consortium hopes that the new government will invite them to a meeting to discuss the process and if it is in their interest to improve it. They believe that declaring this tender canceled would mean at least a year of delay in a country that has serious problems with the supply of fuel for the supply of thermal power plants.

Petroecuador, for its part, reiterated that it strives for the continuity of this process, which will enable an increase in natural gas production and bring resources for the benefit of the country, with transparency and efficiency in bidding, in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.