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January 28, 2008 |
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PETROECUADOR: Feiseh Getting US$1.47B from Block 15 Oil Exports Ecuadorian hydrocarbons fund Feiseh will get US$1.47 billion from state-run Petroecuador's Block 15 oil exports last year, Dow Jones Newswires reports, citing Wilson Pastor, a the government official in charge of the field. Dow Jones relates that the Ecuadorian government confiscated Block 15 from Occidental Petroleum Corp. in 2006 in a contract dispute. Mr. Pastor commented to Dow Jones, "We had budgeted to give to Feiseh around US$621 million, with an oil price of US$42 per barrel, but the price was around US$60 per barrel and we overshot the goal." The report says that the amount excludes operating and administrative costs for Block 15, which produced an average of 88,173 barrels a day in 2007. Petroecuador wants to increase Block 15's output by 21% to 107,000 barrels a day this year, working with a budget of US$713 million, Dow Jones notes. Of the US$713 million, some US$437 million will be invested. The remainder will go to operating and administrative costs. The Ecuadorian government will have completed by March the creation of new company Petroamazonas S.A., which will administer Block 15, Dow Jones says, citing Mr. Pastor. Petroamazonas will also be responsible for the Panacocha field, Dow Jones says, citing Mr. Pastor. According to Dow Jones, Panacocha is a Petroecuador field with 65 million barrels of reserves of crude oil. The field will start production at 2,000 barrels per day, which will increase to 20,000 barrels a day next year. Petroecuador will own Petroamazonas with an 80% stake. Petroecuador's affiliate Petroproduccion will have a 20% in Petroamazonas, which will have financial and operational autonomy, Dow Jones states. In previous years, Petroecuador, according to published reports, was faced with cash-problems. The state-oil firm has no funds for maintenance, has no funds to repair pumps in diesel, gasoline and natural gas refineries, and has no capacity to pay suppliers and vendors. The government refused to give the much- needed cash alleging inefficiency and non-transparency in Petroecuador's dealings. In 2008, a new management team was appointed to turn around the company's operations. |
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