Petroecuador forms firm to operate Oxy's former fields
Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29 -– Galo Chiriboga, president of Ecuadoran state petroleum firm Petroecuador, said Sept. 28 his firm will establish Rio Napo Operations Co. to operate oil fields formerly owned by Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Chiriboga told national television that this is "a company that is going to operate Block 15." He said, "It is a state-run company whose entire capital comes from Petroecuador." He said the company also will extract crude from the Eden-Yuturi and Limoncocha oil fields.
In May, Ecuador's minister of energy terminated Oxy's participation contract with Petroecuador for the operation of 494,000-acre Block 15 (OGJ Online, May 16, 2006).
Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].