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Ecuadoran Oil Output Down By 90 Percent Amid Protests

Posted on: Friday, 19 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Ecuadoran oil output down by 90 percent amid protests

QUITO, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's oil production has plummeted 90 percent from the usual 200,000 barrels a day to 20, 000 barrels due to unrest in two Amazon provinces, Energy Minister Ivan Rodriguez said Thursday.

Protests began in the northern Amazon provinces of Sucumbios and Orellana Sunday, demanding greater spending on infrastructure, employment of local workers by foreign petroleum companies and the expulsion of two foreign oil firms from the provinces.

Local residents blocked the main roads to oil fields in the zone and halted operations at two provincial airports. Another province, Napo, announced Thursday it would also join the protests.

The oil output slump has caused a loss of 100 million US dollars, said Rodriguez, who estimated that it would take 30 to 60 days to restore production to previous levels.

Encana, a Canadian oil firm and one of the two under pressure from the protesters to leave the country, blamed protesters for vandalism which allowed 3,000 barrels of oil to leak into the Aguarico river.

President Alfredo Palacio's government declared a state of emergency in the two provinces after a government building was ransacked and set ablaze by protesters. A curfew was also imposed in the two provinces as of Thursday night.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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