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LATIN AMERICA |
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Ecuadorian
Oil Firm Announces New Amazon Field
QUITO – Ecuadorian oil firm Petroamazonas
said Thursday it will begin developing a new
field in the country’s Amazon region with a
capacity to produce 23,000 barrels per day
of “semi-heavy” crude.
The Pañacocha prospect is located in
Sucumbios province near the Limoncocha and
Eden-Yuturi fields, which also are being
developed by Petroamazonas, a unit of
state-owned Petroecuador.
The new field, which Petroamazonas says
contains deposits with an API gravity of 23
degrees, will allow the company to expand
its current output of 100,000 bpd, equal to
roughly a fifth of the country’s total
production.
Construction of the new oil complex began
with clean-up work at several drilling
platforms that had been used in previous
prospecting efforts at that deposit.
The next steps will involve building access
roads and a port on the nearby Aguarico
River and installing drilling platforms and
operation camps, Petroamazonas said in a
statement.
Project manager Oswaldo Madrid said “the
environmental impact studies and
environmental licenses were approved in
June, prior to the beginning of construction
work,” adding that talks have been held with
local peasant communities as required by
law.
He also said Petroamazonas will use
“cutting-edge technology with minimal
environmental impact” in developing the
project, which will be carried out “under
strict safety, health and environmental
(protection) parameters.”
Giant ponds full of waste left by oil
companies can be found in several areas of
Sucumbios province, and some area residents
are currently suing U.S. oil major Chevron
for $27 billion over environmental damage
caused by Texaco – which Chevron acquired in
2001.
Chevron says Texaco did its part in the
clean-up effort years ago, that a previous
Ecuadorian government cleared it of all
responsibility in 1998 and that Petroecuador
is to blame for the pollution.
Ecuador is the fifth-largest oil producer in
the Americas, pumping some 480,000 barrels
per day.
Oil is Ecuador’s leading export product and
oil revenues finance 35 percent of that
nation’s budget. EFE |
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