news agency
Petroecuador denounces loss of 3,500 barrels of crude oil per day due to indigenous protests

Petroecuador denounces loss of 3,500 barrels of crude oil per day due to indigenous protests

the state Petroecuador reported this Saturday that it loses about 3,500 barrels of crude oil per day due to “acts of vandalism” against its facilities, attributed to Waorani indigenous people protesting against alleged environmental damage by the company in the Amazon of Ecuador.

“The natives closed a valve in the pipeline that interrupted the pumping of crude oil”Petroecuador said in a statement, without specifying when the events occurred.

He added that indigenous Waorani members of the Dicaro community also entered the platform of blocks 16 and 17, in the province of Orellana (northeast), and caused “a power outage that caused the shutdown of wells”.

READ ALSO: The United Kingdom hopes to reach a double taxation agreement with Peru soon

because of those “repeated acts of vandalism” the state company “records an estimated daily loss at the moment that borders 3,500 barrels of Petroleumthe statement specified.

Petroecuador assumed management of blocks 16 and 17 in January of this year, after the departure of the company Petrolia Ecuador SA. At that time, daily production was 13,533 barrels of oil per day, the country’s main export product.

The Amazon indigenous people began a protest on December 25 against the former operator of blocks 16 and 17 to claim for alleged environmental damage.

After 35 days of demonstrations, the Dicaro community also complained in a statement, released by the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confenie), of the “illegal exploitation of Petroecuador” and “the burning of gas in the open air that pollutes”.

LOOK HERE: Mortgage loan rates would remain stable in 2023

Petroecuador warned that if it cannot open the pipeline valve again, it must gradually shut down the wells in the southern zone, until the total closure of the Amo, Daimi, Iro and Ginta fields. That would cause “an estimated daily loss of 11,500 barrels” of crude.

Between January and November 2022, Ecuador – which was a member of OPEC on two occasions – extracted 480,000 barrels per day. Oil exports generated some 9.3 billion dollars (8% of GDP).

Petroecuador is in charge of some 1,600 wells, which means 78% of production.

Source: AFP

Source: Gestion

You may also like

Hot News

TRENDING NEWS

Subscribe

follow us

Immediate Access Pro