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Ecuador will run Occidental oil fields solo: Gov't
Reuters
QUITO
Petroleumworld.com 06 19 06
Ecuador will run the oilfields taken from Occidental Petroleum (OXY.N: Quote, Profile, Research) without the help of another Latin American state oil company, a government official said on Thursday."The president's decision is for the oil camp to be run by Ecuadoreans," Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez told reporters in Quito.
Government officials, including Rodriguez, had said the Andean country was planing to forge a joint venture with a Latin American state oil to operate the fields by August.
However, Rodriguez said it will more profitable for Ecuador to run the fields by itself than to share its revenues with a foreign state company.
Ecuador's Block 15 and the Eden-Yuturi and Limoncocha fields, located in the country's poor Amazon region, passed into state control. But analysts say Petroecuador could struggle to manage the operations.
Earlier this week President Alfredo Palacio declared emergency at the oilfields to create a special unit, speed up the transfer of operational funds and cut through bureaucratic red tape.
The decree also creates an account to transfer monthly funds, estimated to be around $30 million, to operate the oilfields. The unit is in charge of operating the fields.
The block's output dipped to around 98,000 bpd last week in what some analysts say is a confirmation that the state company is incapable of maintaining normal production levels.
Reuters
June 15, 2006
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