QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuador and a subsidiary of Chilean state oil company ENAP have renegotiated an existing agreement to exploit an oil block in the Ecuadorian Amazon (NASDAQ:), with an additional investment of $90 million until 2035, the ministry said. Energy said this in Quito on Saturday.
The new agreement, signed on July 15 between the ministry and the company ENAP SIPEC, which already operates the bloc, will allow an increase in reserves by 5.6 million barrels, Energy and Mines Minister Antonio Goncalves said in a statement.
“Ninety-eight percent of the new investments promised by the operator will be implemented during the first five years after the signing of the document,” the minister said.
ENAP signed a service contract with the Andean country in 2010 for the exploitation of three blocks. The operation of block 46, located in the northeastern province of Orellana with a production of 16,700 barrels per day (bpd), had already been renegotiated in early 2021.
According to official data, ENAP production in Ecuador amounted to 28,443 barrels per day as of July 18, 2024.
