Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 49 2021

LatAmOil ECUADOR LatAmOil

PetroEcuador’s contractors have been given 90 Ecuador’s push to encourage private-sector
days in which to signal their intention to migrate investment in hydrocarbon projects is happen-
to PSCs. Among these contractors are the US ing as the country seeks to maximise oil pro-
firm Halliburton, China’s Sinopec and the inde- duction and revenue in the face of rising global
pendent Canadian company Canacol. efforts to transition from fossil fuels to renew-
Energy Minister Juan Carlos Bermeo able energy sources. According to economic
recently expressed support for the migration analyst Walter Spurrier, the reforms should
offer, stating: “We want the PSCs to be an incen- help to facilitate private investment before the
tive to invest. So the more crude a company pro- crude reserves decline in value, as the demand
duces, the more profit it makes.” for clean energy sources rise. ™

Primax gains access to fuel

import infrastructure in Ecuador

PRIMAX, a Peruvian distributor of petroleum sellers, Corpetrol and WFSE, as well as two sub-
products, has gained access to infrastruc- sidiaries of the Chilean company Copec, Dura-
ture in Ecuador under a new agreement with gas and Terpel.
that country’s national oil company (NOC), The new agreement will help bolster Primax’s
PetroEcuador. market share in Ecuador. Data compiled by an
The two companies signed the deal last week, Ecuadorean industry association show that the
according to a report from Argus Media. Under Peruvian company already accounts for about
the new arrangement, Primax, which is a divi- 22% of all fuel sold in the neighbouring country,
sion of Peru’s Romero Group, will be able to use roughly equal to the share held by a local distrib-
PetroEcuador’s infrastructure to ship its pro- utor known as Petroleos y Servicios. PetroEcua-
duction into Ecuador. It will pay the NOC a fee dor, meanwhile, holds about 19% of the market,
of $0.027 in exchange for access to storage and while Terpel has another 9%.
transportation facilities. Argus Media believes that Primax and the
Karl Castillo, the head of Primax’s Peruvian other firms that have signed agreements with
arm, said the signing of the agreement was sure PetroEcuador on imports are likely make pre-
to benefit his company. Access to infrastructure mium gasoline shipments their first priority.
will help improve the quality of the fuel Primax High-octane gasoline is the only type of motor
sells in Ecuador, he explained. fuel that is not currently subject to the Ecuado-
Primax is not the only company to have rean government’s suspension of market-based
signed such an agreement with PetroEcuador, pricing adjustments, so its sale is more lucra-
Argus Media noted. tive, the agency explained. (It also noted that
It said that the NOC had recently struck sim- the price of LPG for industrial use had not been
ilar deal with two privately owned domestic fuel artificially stabilised.) ™

Primax has a 22% share of the Peruvian fuel market (Image: Primax)

Week 49 09•December•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13