Ecuador's OCP Restarts Oil Pipeline Two Weeks After Shutdown

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Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Oleoductos de Crudos Pesados said Wednesday it has restarted operations at its 450,000 barrel-per-day (BBL/d) OCP oil pipeline in Ecuador. The pipeline had been under force majeure since June 17 due to heavy rains in the the Department of Napo that caused erosion and forced the company to halt operations.

To address the situation, the company built two 1.4-kilometer (0.8-mile) bypasses in the erosion zone at the Quijos River. The bypass effort involved more than 400 people and 20 companies, according to OCP.

Erosion across Ecuadorian rivers is not uncommon. In several occasions, such erosion has caused shutdowns by the country's two main oil pipelines, the OCP and SOTE, leading to lower production. The pipelines transport crude from the country's heart in the Amazon to the Pacific Coast.

This time, the closure of the OCP forced companies such as Petroecuador (Quito, Ecuador)" target="_self">Petroecuador to halt production in several oil fields.

According to the national oil regulator, Ecuador was producing 372,000 BBL/d as of July 1, about 100,000 BBL/d less than the country's average. Petroecuador was producing 292,000 BBL/d, while private energy companies accounted for the rest.

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