- Petroecuador
Petroecuador (Empresa Estatal Petróleos del Ecuador) is the national
oil company ofEcuador . It is a state-owned enterprise, founded onSeptember 26 1989 . It is the successor to CEPE (Corporación Estatal Petrolera Ecuatoriana) which was formed in1972 .It operates three divisions:
* Petroproducción for exploration and extraction
* Petroindustrial for refinery operations
* Petrocomercial for transportation and marketing of refined products to the internal market in Ecuador.Petroecuador is charged with managing the operation of the Trans-Ecuadorian oil pipeline network, Sistema de Oleoducto Transecuatoriano or SOTE, built in 1972 for Texaco-Gulf.
Industrial Accident
On
February 26 ,1998 there was an explosion and fire at the Petroecuador pipeline in Esmeraldas, a port city in northwest Ecuador [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/60842.stm] [http://socrates.berkeley.edu:7001/Academics/courses/center/spring2003/petroleum2003/lomonaco.html]Controversy over impact on environment in Amazon
Petroecuador has been the subject of controversy over the impact of exploration and pipeline operations on the environment and Huaorani and Cofan indigenous peoples within the Amazon basin in Ecuador's Oriente (eastern) region, where oil drilling operations take place in previously roadless rainforest. Advocacy groups such as [http://www.amazonwatch.org Amazon Watch] and [http://www.chevrontoxico.org ChevronToxico] have attempted to document the oil spills, ecological damage and human impacts of these operations.
Prof. Judith Kimerling [http://www.law.cuny.edu/app/faculty/faculty_detail.jsp?name=Kimerling%2C+Judith] of CUNY School of Law in
1991 published a book "Amazon Crude" (ISBN 0960935851) which details many of these problems. [http://cybersites.net/~random/yanomami/Home/578x.htm online slideshow (Java required)]In response to these reports, a class-action lawsuit was initiated against ChevronTexaco in the U.S. over their involvement in these operations. A U.S. court ruled the case should be heard in Ecuador. A new action was begun in Ecuador in 2003. That case is currently before the Ecuadorean courts. In March 2007 Chevron issued a [http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D8NK3VGG0.htm statement] saying it would not settle the suit.
Texaco's statement on the class action suit [http://www.texaco.com/sitelets/ecuador/en/responsibility/ link]
Refineries
Petroecuador owns three petroleum refineries in Ecuador. Capacity is expected to increase due to the increasing demand in Ecuador and the U.S. (Eucuador is the second largest exporter of oil products of South America to the U.S.).
Refineries in Ecuador:
Esmeraldas Refinery (Petroecuador), 110,000 bpd (start-up 1978)
La Libertad Refinery (Petroecuador), 45,000 bbl/d (7,200 m³/d)
Shushufindi Refinery (Petroecuador), 20,000 bbl/d (3,200 m³/d)
ee also
*
Oil
*Ecuador
*Sarayaku There are Wikipedia pages with this title in other languages. See the sidebar for links.
External links
* [http://www.petroecuador.com.ec/ Company website]
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