Petro Ecuador (Ecuador’s state oil leader) is close to resuming oil pumping from the “Sot” pipeline, which underwent maintenance and follow-up work in the past due to damage, which prompted the company to temporarily suspend production.
The company hopes to raise its oil production after resuming pumping from the “SOT” pipeline, so that it can compensate for the production shortfall it witnessed last week, after the closure of a number of its oil wells in the Amazon region.
In this context, PetroEcuador announced that the technical works – as well as the emergency works to which the SOT pipeline is subject – will most likely end today, Tuesday, February 28 (2023); This will enable the company to gradually resume pumping, after the declaration of force majeure, according to Reuters.
PetroEcuador and OCP Ecuador, the operator of private oil pipelines, have suspended their pipelines as part of the precautionary measures they unveiled last week, following the collapse of a bridge near their operations in the central province of Napo.
The force majeure declaration by PetroEcuador came a day after oil shipments were rescheduled. In this context, the company said in a statement: “In our estimation, work on the (SUT) oil pipeline will be completely completed today, Tuesday, February 28 (2023), if the weather conditions are favorable.”
“Five days after the collapse of the bridge, Petro-Ecuador has completed 89% of the technical and emergency work in the region,” the statement said.
Gradually resume pumping
The company expects to gradually resume oil pumping once the aforementioned works are completed, allowing company officials to conduct an analysis regarding the possible lifting of force majeure.
And Petro-Ecuador began – gradually – closing the oil wells in the Amazon region last week, bringing production to approximately 185,373 barrels per day during yesterday’s trading, Sunday, February 26 (2023).
Similarly, production levels from private oil companies fell to 58,304 barrels per day, the latest figures from Ecuador’s regulator show.
It is noteworthy that the “SOT” and “OCB” pipelines stopped periodically as a result of damage to the pipeline, caused by rocks and landslides, but the accident that occurred this week came in a different place than its counterparts, which occurred in 2020 and 2021.
Petro-Ecodaur stated that it will build the alternative pipeline number 8 of “SOT” and the alternative number 6 of the Chusovandi-Quito Polyduct pipeline, in an effort to avoid any damages in the future.
Labor protests
On January 21 (2023), Petro-Ecuadorian workers ended their protests that had lasted for 3 consecutive days in the north-central city of Quito, following an agreement with the government to improve their financial conditions, according to Reuters.
Petro-Ecuador workers entered protests on Wednesday, January 18 (2023), to demand that those in charge of the company’s order comply with a binding court ruling to raise their salaries, according to data viewed by the specialized energy platform.
Petro-Ecuador’s workers’ protests also come against a series of management practices, which the workers saw as having led to a decline in the company’s crude oil production.
Ineffective protests
In the aftermath of the start of the protests, Petro Ecuador quickly issued a statement confirming that these actions had never affected the operational work of its oil fields, adding that the workers had reached an agreement with the government body responsible for monitoring the behavior of departments in state companies scattered in the Latin country.
The protests by Petro Ecuadorian workers come as there is a widespread debate about officials in some of the largest state-owned companies, according to information collected by the specialized energy platform.
On January 17 (2023), the President of Petro Ecuador, Hugo Aguiar, submitted his resignation along with a group of leaders of state companies, while the authorities in Ecuador opened investigations into corruption practices in government-run companies.
Petro Ecuador’s workers have long complained about their low salaries, poor working conditions, and the lack of vehicles to transport them to the oil fields, which sparked the recent protests.
volume of oil production
Oil production in Petro Ecuador amounted to approximately 369 thousand barrels per day, on January 19 (2023), according to information verified by the specialized energy platform.
After marathon efforts, the state oil company succeeded in resuming oil production by 90% during December (2022), after it was disrupted, in more than 700 wells due to power outages.
In a statement issued on December 13 (2022), Petro Ecuador revealed that it had resumed work and production again in more than 90% of the oil wells, adding that it had also managed to compensate for the production shortfall, which it estimated – at the time – at approximately 55 thousand. and approximately 430 barrels.
And Petro Ecuador had previously attributed its power outage to bad weather, which weighed on oil production rates, according to what was seen by the specialized energy platform.
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