Ecuador oil pipeline seen finished in early 2003
Date: 08-Feb-02
Country: ECUADOR
The Andean nation has only one pipeline, which has long been viewed as an obstacle for investment given the lack of room for transport. The country produces about 400,000 barrels of crude per day, equal to the duct's capacity.
Ecuador is counting on the new $1.1 billion heavy-crude pipeline to be built by a consortium of private oil companies, OCP Ecuador SA, to buoy its economy by boosting oil exports and creating new jobs.
"A week ago, the project had been completed in 23.7 percent. To this date we have invested $147 million," OCP Ecuador spokesman Francisco Diaz told Reuters this week.
Diaz said construction should be completed in the first quarter of 2003 and the pipeline should start working in July 2003.
While analysts view the project as important to Ecuador's economy, it has sparked controversy among environmentalists who seek to protect a forest near Quito called Mindo, where the pipeline is slated to go.
Diaz said the company had stopped working in Mindo due to rainy weather but would pick up again in April. Several protesters camped out along the planned route of the pipeline earlier this year.
"In Mindo, work was suspended because rain is common and it is delicate terrain," he said, denying work had stopped because of environmental opposition.
OCP Ecuador is made up of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. , Agip Petroleum , Kerr-McGee, Occidental Petroleum Corp. , Spain's Repsol-YPF and Argentina's Perez Companc and construction firm Techint.