Ecuador’s state oil firm says weather power outage hits hundreds of wells

QUITO (Reuters) – Ecuadoran state oil firm Petroecuador on Monday said weather-related damage to a power line affected more than 700 wells in its most productive blocks in the country’s Amazon region, further biting into its crude output.

In a statement, Petroecuador did not estimate the impact of Sunday’s incident on its production levels, but said it was working to normalize output in the coming days after the resulting power outage affected 728 of its wells.

The power cut hit nearly half of the wells the company operates across the country, according to the statement.

Ecuador’s energy and non-renewable natural resources regulator said in a separate report published on Monday that Petroecuador’s daily crude output had dropped by around 56,000 barrels on Sunday. It added that output on Saturday, before the incident, had reached about 385,000 barrels per day (bpd).

Petroecuador said the wells affected by the power outage are spread across its most productive oilfields, including Sacha, Shushufindi, Auca, Indillana, Libertador, Palo Azul and Lago Agrio.

Last month, the company reported a similar power failure in its ITT block, where it extracts nearly 52,000 bpd. Road blockades by protesters from indigenous communities have also cut into its oil production.

President Guillermo Lasso took office last year vowing to grow crude output to 1 million bpd, but has since lowered the target to 600,000 bpd by the end of his term in 2025.

(Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by David Alire Garcia)