Ecuador's Refiner EP Petroecuador Shuts Largest Refinery Due to Pipeline Shutdowns

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Ecuador's state-owned refiner EP Petroecuador has shut down its 110,000-barrel-per-day (BBL/d) Esmeraldas refinery, the largest in the country, due to a crude oil shortage after two pipeline shutdowns.

The parallel-running Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System (SOTE), owned by Petroecuador, and the privately owned Oleoducto de Crudos Pesados (OCP) heavy crude oil pipeline, were shut down earlier this month due to advancing erosion along rivers in the province of Napo.

The nearly 500-kilometer SOTE pipeline transports 360,000 barrels of crude per day from Ecuador's Amazon region to the Balao terminal along the Pacific Coast, and the OCP pipeline can move up to 450,000 barrels per day.

Petroecuador has said it will be able to maintain the national fuel supply, with a sufficient stock of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, fuel oil for power generation, and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) for domestic use, in spite of the pipeline shutdowns.

To restore the transportation of crude oil, both pipelines are adding bypasses that will be completed in January 2022.

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