MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Ecuador signs US$ 1 billion investment deals to boost oil production in existing fields

Petroamazonas signed a contract with Pañaturi consortium, made up of China’s Sinopec International and Sinopec Service Ecuador

Ecuadorian state-owned energy firm Petroamazonas EP, which is looking to boost production at nine of its existing oil fields and on Monday signed a series of investment deals amounting to US$ 1 billion for those areas, enlisting the help of both domestic and foreign companies.

 Petroamazonas said it signed a contract with the Pañaturi consortium, made up of China’s Sinopec International and Sinopec Service Ecuador, for the Indillana, Yanaquincha and Limoncocha fields.

It also signed a deal with the Kamana consortium, made up of French oilfield services giant Schlumberger and Argentina’s Tecpetrol, for the Eden Yuturi and Pañacocha fields.

In addition, Petroamazonas inked an agreement with the Igapo consortium, which includes U.S. oilfield services giant Halliburton, for the Lago Agrio, Palo Azul, Pucuna and Victor Hugo Ruales fields.

“The investments pledged by the three consortiums amount to approximately US$1 billion, (to be spent on) the recovery of 84.6 million barrels of incremental reserves, which require greater technology to extract,” the statement read.

Fees paid to the contractors “will be calculated in relation to the West Texas Intermediate international benchmark, a model that allows them to be modified in accordance with global oil prices.”

The multinational companies will assume the investment risk, with Petroamazonas only paying for successful development of the incremental reserves. The state-owned company will remain the operator of the fields, the statement said, adding that the contractors will use “optimization and improved recovery techniques.”

The expected increase in production at those mature fields is 30,000 additional barrels per day by 2018, according to the statement.