Petroecuador will not declare a state of emergency at the Esmeraldas refinery despite the fact that the previous administration issued statements that this important Petroecuador asset was on the verge of collapse.

On December 11, the refinery’s now-former director Johnny Alejandro Castillo Vivar sent a letter to former general manager Reinaldo Armijos asking him to declare a state of emergency due to the poor condition of the internal power generation systems, cooling water towers, fire protection networks, water and waste treatment water, storage and transmission. However, these warnings would not be grounds for declaring a state of emergency.

This strengthens the theory of some experts that they wanted to create a complex moment for the application of the state of emergency and the conclusion of direct contracts, with possible risks of overestimation.

According to a legal opinion issued by Petroecuador’s lawyer on January 4, the judgments issued by both former Refinación Castillo and former general manager Armijos did not have the necessary support. “Based on the valid regulations cited in the legal criteria on the declaration of emergency of the Esmeraldas refinery issued by the representative of the previous administration and in accordance with the recorded data regarding the operational capacity of the refinery and operational goals, The declaration of a state of emergency at the Esmeraldas refinery is not supported,” the company said.

In particular, the legal analysis indicates that the warnings contained in Memorandum no. PETRO-REF-2023-1464-M “due to non-compliance with planned maintenance downtime and lack of timely procurement of spare parts.” The stated problems would rather arise from the public procurement process. In this sense, the company manages the solution in this regard.

He also points out that in the case of the Esmeraldas refinery, the delay in the legal processes established on the various contracts does not allow the equipment to intervene to complete its assembly or to complete the repair, for example, in the wastewater clarifiers.

Additionally, the company states that the direction of the general management is to effectively manage the planned downtimes so that they are fulfilled within the established times and dates, in accordance with the annual operating plan.

However, the Attorney General’s statement shows that there was no compliance with the planned shutdowns, which would also create, at least in 2023, additional costs of 248 million in fuel imports, as calculated by Darío Dávalos, an energy expert.

In any case, the production of derivatives is close to normal levels at the moment. The Crude 1 facility, whose operational target is 90%, is at 84%. On the other hand, Crude Unit 2 and FCC, whose goal was to be at 90% and 80%, respectively, achieve this. According to Petroecuador, the figures show that the only plant operating with a difference less than planned, equivalent to -6.7%, is the Crude 1 unit of the Esmeraldas refinery, due to heat exchanger damage. It is currently being repaired.

EP Petroecuador delivered a total of 3.723 million gallons of fuel in 2023 from its clean product terminals and refineries across the country.

As for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the public company shipped a total of 1.322 million kilograms. This product is sold to the public in cylinders of 15 kilograms for the household, 15 and 45 kilograms for the industrial sector, of various specifications and in accordance with the devices installed in cars for the vehicle sector and in bulk for the agro-industry. sector..