Oil production fell due to factors such as the pandemic

In nine months of this 2020, the drop in production was 12.5%.

Nearly 67,000 barrels of oil per day have ceased to be exploited in nine months of 2020. This means a drop of 12.5% ​​compared to the same period in 2019.

Although figures from the Central Bank of Ecuador (ECB) and the Energy Regulation and Control Agency show a progressive recovery in production, it is below the levels before the pandemic and even those reached in the last six years.

In this period, the country has pumped an average of 468,000 barrels of crude per day, while in the same period of the previous five years, daily oil production exceeded 518,000 barrels per day.

The reduction in oil activity this year is due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which began last March; the rupture of the oil pipelines, which occurred at the beginning of April; and the cut in the budget of the state oil company Petroamazonas.

Fernando Santos, advisor to the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources, said that, with the health emergency, in mid-March, the staff that worked in key blocks such as 43-ITT (Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini) was reduced to avoid contagion in the area.

The government expected to have around 15,000 additional barrels of crude per day from this area in the last quarter of this year, but this has not yet happened.

Currently, block 43-ITT contributes 59,684 barrels a day, according to Petroamazonas reports on October 23. This figure is lower than at the beginning of the year (which stood at 67,000 barrels).

In the case of the Sacha field, which is operated by Petroamazonas, it went from a production of 75,000 barrels, which was initially exploited, to 69,708 barrels. In total, Petroamazonas -which contributes 80% of the national production- has reduced its pumping by almost 20,000 barrels per day, recognized-days ago- the Minister of Energy, René Ortiz, in a radio interview.

To this series of inconveniences are added temporary suspensions in the transportation of crude oil, so that Petroecuador builds three variants of this pipeline, with the objective of protecting this infrastructure.

For this reason, the transportation of crude oil by SOTE, between January and September, was reduced by 12.5% ​​compared to 2019, according to Petroecuador’s Monthly Statistical Report.

Santos said that the average national oil production will be at 480,000 barrels per day until the end of 2020.

Also, until December 2020, three of the eight long-term contracts that were signed with Asian firms such as Petrochina, Unipec and Petrotailandia will expire.

Meanwhile, in the Ministry of Energy, it is estimated that in 2021 there will be barely 3.7% of the production available for new operations. This equates to 3.8 million barrels of oil. The remainder will be used to comply with internal requirements and current sales contracts.