QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadoran state oil firm Petroecuador on Monday said weather-related damage to an influence line affected greater than 700 wells in its best blocks within the country’s Amazon region, further biting into its crude output.
In a press release, Petroecuador didn’t estimate the impact of Sunday’s incident on its production levels, but said it was working to normalize output in the approaching days after the resulting power outage affected 728 of its wells.
The ability cut hit nearly half of the wells the corporate operates across the country, in line with the statement.
Ecuador’s energy and non-renewable natural resources regulator said in a separate report published on Monday that Petroecuador’s day by day crude output had dropped by around 56,000 barrels on Sunday. It added that output on Saturday, before the incident, had reached about 385,000 barrels per day (bpd).
Petroecuador said the wells affected by the facility outage are spread across its best oilfields, including Sacha, Shushufindi, Auca, Indillana, Libertador, Palo Azul and Lago Agrio.
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Last month, the corporate reported the same power failure in its ITT block, where it extracts nearly 52,000 bpd. Road blockades by protesters from indigenous communities have also cut into its oil production.
President Guillermo Lasso took office last 12 months vowing to grow crude output to 1 million bpd, but has since lowered the goal to 600,000 bpd by the top of his term in 2025.
(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia)
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