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Canada’s Frontera makes first oil discovery in Ecuador since 2016

Canadian oil company Frontera Energy made the first oil find in Ecuador in six years, the country’s President Guillermo Lasso said late Jan. 19.

Frontera’s well in the Perico field in the northeastern Amazon jungle Oriente Basin is producing 925 b/d oil equivalent, Lasso wrote via Twitter.

“It’s great news for Ecuador and the result of 100% private investment,” Lasso said. “We’re progressing towards our goal of doubling oil production.”

The Jandaya-1 well was drilled to a depth of 10,975 feet and is expected to start long-term testing next month, Calgary-based Frontera said in a statement. The Perico oil and gas field, a joint venture with GeoPark, will see a second well (Tui-1) drilled in February, according to Frontera.

Lasso, a former banker who began his four-year mandate in May 2021, seeks to attract more private investment to Ecuador in a bid to double the country’s crude oil production to 1 million b/d.

Petroecuador guidance
Petroecuador, meanwhile, set its 2022 production guidance at 425,000 b/d and pledged to invest $100 million this year in upgrades of its 360,000 b/d SOTE oil pipeline and 10,800 b/d Shushufindi-Quito fuel conduit.

The company’s 110,000 b/d Esmeraldas, 45,000 b/d La Libertad and 20,000 b/d Shushufindi refineries also returned to full capacity as of Jan. 18 after the SOTE conduit reopened following a three-week shutdown due to flooding, CEO Italo Cedeno said at a press conference.

Petroecuador, which is renegotiating contracts with PetroChina, Unipec and PTT, aims to allocate 10% of 2022 Oriente and Napo crude exports to the spot market to ensure better prices, Cedeno said. US consultant firm Arthur D. Little is also working on a study aimed at listing Petroecuador on the stock exchange, he added.

Ecuador was producing 491,700 b/d of crude through Jan. 17, according to the Natural Resources Ministry. Petroecuador accounts for about 80% of the country’s output.
Source: Platts

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