Ecuador declares force majeure in oil activities after bridge collapse: government

QUITO, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Ecuador’s energy ministry issued a resolution on Thursday declaring force majeure in its strategic oil industry, a day after a bridge collapse forced the closure of two oil pipelines and a polyduke in the Andean country.

State oil company Petroecuador and private operator OCP Ecuador on Wednesday suspended operations on their respective pipelines as a precautionary measure after a bridge collapsed near pipeline infrastructure in the Amazon province of Napo.

“Force majeure is declared for hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation operators, who are affected by the transport of hydrocarbons through the SOTE, OCP systems and the Shushufindi Quito polyduct, due to the impossibility of receive and transport oil,” the ministry said in its resolution. .

Private operators and Petroecuador must inform the ministry of the activities they can carry out during the stoppage of the pipelines and the maintenance they will carry out in the oil fields to guarantee operations, he added.

Petroecuador said in its own statement late Thursday that it would implement a plan to phase out the oil wells it operates in fields in the Amazon and contact its customers.

“In the case of crude oil exports to the international market, the state oil company will notify companies with which it currently maintains contractual obligations for the delivery of planned shipments,” the state oil company explained.

Petroecuador also said it tentatively estimated a seven-day timeline for pumping to resume.

SOTE and OCP pipelines are regularly interrupted due to damage from rocks and landslides, but this week’s incident occurred in a different location than those in 2020 and 2021.

Petroecuador said the collapse was due to headward erosion, a phenomenon that has repeatedly damaged oil infrastructure in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Ecuadorian production stood at 482,678 barrels per day (bpd) on Wednesday, according to official data.

(Report by Alexandra Valencia, editing by Manuel Farías)