Ecuador production, exports down in April

OREANDA-NEWS. June 09, 2015. Ecuador's oil revenue decreased by about 5pc in April as crude production and exports fell, according to data released today by the Opec nation's central bank.

April production fell by about 4pc to 16.4mn bl, down from 17.1mn bl in March, after both public and private sector companies reported lower output for the month. Petroamazonas, a unit of state oil company PetroEcuador, produced 10.5mn bl of oil in April, down by about 441,000 bl from March.

PetroAmazonas' oil output could drop by 10,000 b/d this year to 351,000 b/d because of falling oil revenues, and production by its Rio Napo 70:30 joint venture with Venezuela's state-owned PdV could fall by an additional 7,000 b/d to 65,000 b/d. PetroAmazonas and Rio Napo were responsible for close to 80pc of Ecuador's oil production last year, with the balance produced by foreign companies including China's state-owned Andes Petroleum, Spain's Repsol and Italy's Eni.

National crude consumption decreased by 1.8pc from March to April as crude runs fell at the 110,000 b/d Esmeraldas and 40,000 b/d Amazonas refineries. Despite the decrease in consumption, total national crude exports fell by about 26pc from March to April, from 13.7mn bl to 10.1mn bl.

Oil minister Pedro Merizalde had announced in April that Ecuador reduced its crude production target for this year to 550,000 b/d from 560,000 b/d because of lower oil benchmark prices, and the nation decided to maintain production only at the most cost-efficient wells.

Full production will resume when prices for US light sweet benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) stabilizes above \\$60/bl, he said. It has been near that level recently.

Though the price for Ecuadorean crude oil rose by an average of \\$12/bl from March to April, Ecuador earned only \\$553mn from exports in April, down from about \\$585mn in March, as a result of less crude being sent to the port.