Ecuador’s Oil Exports Reduced by $175 Million

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Ecuador’s oil production registered a 14% drop mainly due to incidents at Esmeraldas refinery, and as a direct consequence of this, Petroecuador’s oil exports decreased $175 million during the first semester of 2007.

Ecuador is the fifth largest oil producer in South America with 532,000 barrels of oil per day (b/d) production capacity. Petroecuador owns three refineries: 43,000 b/d La Libertad; 110,000 b/d Shushufindi; and 110,000 b/d Esmeraldas Refinery. The latter processes 65% of Ecuador’s fuel production, 40% of which is used for internal consumption. Problems at this refinery started on February 15, 2007, when the regenerator’s combustor stopped working. For more information, see related news article - Esmeraldas Refinery’s Production Capacity Faces Substantial Reduction. After this unexpected shutdown, on May 3, 2007, major problems occurred due to catalytic reforming fire. The unit will remain shutdown for three months more; HDS, HDT diesel, HDT Naphtha, SRU 1 and 2 and Nitrogen units will remain shutdown until the CCR is back online by the end of October 2007. For details, see related June 14, 2007 news article - Ecuador’s Esmeraldas Refinery Faces Four Months CCR Shutdown

The Central Bank informed that oil export monthly income in Ecuador dropped from $397.8 million in April to $386.9 million in May 2007. According to the oil analyst Luis Calero, the Esmeraldas refinery’s modernization and the construction of a new refinery in the country are extremely necessary topics, which are not moving forward as they should. However, Jorge Alban, Ecuador’s oil minister, stated that the country is focusing all its efforts towards achieving all the necessary goals to improve oil production.

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