Ecuador raises cause of “force majeure” after recovering oil production

The Government of Ecuador announced that, after recovering its oil production, it is lifting the cause of “force majeure” that it applied on December 12 to suspend oil exports, due to work on two pipelines threatened by a phenomenon of natural erosion.

The Ministry of Energy issued a resolution by which it lifts the situation of “force majeure”, declared by the paralysis of the oil pipelines that were threatened by regressive erosion in the Piedra Fina river, in the Amazon province of Napo, near which they pass the pipes.

Said resolution was issued once the state Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE) and the private Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP) resumed operations at the end of December, which in turn allowed the recovery of production in the extraction fields in The Amazon.

The two pipelines “are technically operational for the reception and transportation of crude oil, from the stations located in Lago Agrio (Amazon) to the export terminals in Esmeraldas (coast of the Pacific Ocean),” the Ministry specified.

Both the state oil company Petroecuador and the private OCP-Ecuador built variants in the route of their pipelines in the area of ​​the Piedra Fina river, affected by landslides caused by erosion.

The lifting of the cause of “force majeure” will allow the scheduled transportation of oil from the Amazon to be resumed to the shipping ports in the coastal zone, with the aim of restarting crude exports and “complying with the contractual clauses, guaranteeing safety legal ”, added the source.

The regressive erosion process in the area of ​​the El Reventador volcano, through which the Piedra Fina river passes, began to be registered in 2020 and since then Petroecuador and OCP have built some variants to redirect the pipeline.

The resumption of SOTE operations will also allow the resumption of operations at the “Esmeraldas” and “La Libertad” refineries, both in the coastal zone, affected by the cut in the supply of crude oil.

With a daily production of about 530,000 barrels, under normal conditions, Ecuador has one of its main sources of foreign exchange income and financing of its state budget in oil exports.