Ecuador rules out foreign partnership to run oil fields
QUITO
Ecuador's government will not form a partnership with another Latin American state-run oil company to run oil blocks taken over in May from U.S.-based oil company Occidental Petroleum (OXY), the country's top energy official said Friday.
"Despite initially thinking of an alliance with a state company to operate Occidental's former fields, that possibility has been discarded because the president believes that in Ecuador there are sufficient managerial and operational capabilities to maintain production without any problems," Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez told Dow Jones Newswires.
This month the government will appoint someone to run the three oil fields taken back from Occidental May 15 for a breach of contract. Occidental denies the accusations and is seeking international arbitration.
The possibility of a Latin American alliance surfaced because the government was reluctant to hand the three oil fields over to its own state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, because of concerns about efficiency.
But local authorities and social groups in Ecuador's Amazon region had begun to mobilize efforts to protest any foreign involvement in the fields.
Rodriguez said Ecuador may still hire experts from one of the Latin American state oil firms as advisors. Colombia's Ecopetrol and Chile's Enap have both expressed an interest in helping Ecuador run the fields.
Last weekend, President Alfredo Palacio signed an emergency decree transferring the three fields to a specially-created entity run by various members of his cabinet to manage production, which was around 100,0000 barrels per day under Occidental's control.
Meanwhile, the government continues to negotiate with Venezuela an agreement to send crude oil from the three fields to Venezuela for processing at a refinery there, the minister said. The plan is to send 65,000 barrels per day from July 1, he said. Recent reports have said Venezuela would charge about $5 per barrel for processing the crude.
Ecuador's government will not form a partnership with another Latin American state-run oil company to run oil blocks taken over in May from U.S.-based oil company Occidental Petroleum (OXY), the country's top energy official said Friday.
"Despite initially thinking of an alliance with a state company to operate Occidental's former fields, that possibility has been discarded because the president believes that in Ecuador there are sufficient managerial and operational capabilities to maintain production without any problems," Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez told Dow Jones Newswires.
This month the government will appoint someone to run the three oil fields taken back from Occidental May 15 for a breach of contract. Occidental denies the accusations and is seeking international arbitration.
The possibility of a Latin American alliance surfaced because the government was reluctant to hand the three oil fields over to its own state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, because of concerns about efficiency.
But local authorities and social groups in Ecuador's Amazon region had begun to mobilize efforts to protest any foreign involvement in the fields.
Rodriguez said Ecuador may still hire experts from one of the Latin American state oil firms as advisors. Colombia's Ecopetrol and Chile's Enap have both expressed an interest in helping Ecuador run the fields.
Last weekend, President Alfredo Palacio signed an emergency decree transferring the three fields to a specially-created entity run by various members of his cabinet to manage production, which was around 100,0000 barrels per day under Occidental's control.
Meanwhile, the government continues to negotiate with Venezuela an agreement to send crude oil from the three fields to Venezuela for processing at a refinery there, the minister said. The plan is to send 65,000 barrels per day from July 1, he said. Recent reports have said Venezuela would charge about $5 per barrel for processing the crude.
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