Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 25 2022

LatAmOil ECUADOR LatAmOil

So far, it said, 918 wells have had to be shut in, Sacha and Shushufindi. Demonstrators have
including 781 wells operated by the national oil blocked the roadways leading to those sites,
company (NOC) Petroecuador and 137 oper- seized control of the wells and production facil-
ated by private companies. ities there and forced oil workers to power down
Shutdowns at these and other fields have machinery, he said.
forced Petroecuador to take the Trans-Ecua- Even more wells are likely to stop working
dorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE) offline within the next four days, since the diesel-burn-
and to declare force majeure on all contracts ing units that provide power to the pumps will
that rely on the system. The 360,000 bpd net- soon run out of fuel, he added. Argus Media
work is not being loaded with enough crude to commented that the protests had occurred at a
operate properly, the NOC’s CEO Italo Cedeno time when Petroecuador was experiencing dif-
explained on June 22. ficulties in supplying petroleum products, with
He also identified the fields most affected by some provinces having only enough gasoline
these events as Auca, Coca-Payamino-Yuralpa, and diesel on hand to cover five to seven days of
Cuyabeno, Indillana, Lago Agrio, Liberatador, consumption. ™

Petroecuador seeks private partner

to reduce gas flaring in Amazon

ECUADOR’S national oil company (NOC) of greenhouse gases (GHGs) were released last
Petroecuador is seeking a private-sector part- year due to flaring; an activity that researchers
ner in order to prevent the further flaring of believe could lead to or contribute to health
associated gas during crude production in the issues such as cancer and respiratory disease.
Amazon, in line with a court-imposed deadline, Alejandro Gonzalez, the director of envi-
Reuters reported last week. ronmental engineering at the University of the
As of last week, the company said it had Americas explained that the release of chemicals
already received expressions of interest (EoIs) such as benzene during flaring is a major cause
from 15 private companies, including Promigas of the aforementioned health concerns. “There’s
SA (Colombia) and Gran Tierra Energy (Can- a direct link between inhaling benzene and can-
ada). It is hoping to find a partner to invest in cer,” he explained, emphasising that children are
technology that can be used to capture the gas the most heavily affected population group.
that is usually flared off on a daily basis. Ecuador’s Energy Ministry released a pub-
Currently, producers working in Ecuador lic apology in April, acknowledging its delay in
flare off about 65mn cubic feet (1.841mn cubic extinguishing the fires. Since then, Petroecua-
metres) per day of gas. These flares are believed dor has begun centralising flares at certain fields
by some to be the cause of cancer and other and has dismantled 49 flares in the process.
illnesses within nearby communities. A group According to community lawyer Pablo
of girls who argued that the flares violated their Fajardo, however, the company reported pre-
right to a clean environment influenced the viously shut flares as being newly shut down.
launch of the case, in which a provincial tribu- “They say they switched off three flares that
nal in Sucumbios ordered Petroecuador to cease were already turned off and hope to eliminate
all flaring in its areas of activity by March 2023. 45 flares, which also don’t work, in the rest of the
According to the World Bank, 400mn tonnes year,” he claimed. ™

Gas flaring site in Sucumbios province (Photo: Amazon Frontlines)

Week 25 23•June•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13