Ecuador's state-run oil company Petroamazonas said on Friday it plans to invest $148 million to drill 24 new wells in its largest block, with the aim of boosting crude output by 7,500 barrels per day (bpd), report agencies.
The company has hired China's Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Company Ltd for the drilling campaign in the Tambococha field of its ITT block, its largest, which holds 1.67 billion barrels of crude reserves and currently produces around 67,000 bpd. Ecuador, which left the OPEC bloc of oil exporting countries this year, aims to boost crude output to help cover a gaping fiscal gap and pay down public debt. The company aims to produce some 440,900 bpd in 2020. Ecuador as a whole produces 542,000 bpd, including Petroamazonas' share and that of private companies operating in the Andean nation.
