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Petroecuador reverses plans to call force majeure

Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:56pm EST
(Adds Petroecuador reversing decision on force majeure)

QUITO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Ecuador's state oil firm, Petroecuador, has reversed its decision to call force majeure and halt exports on Friday after a key pipeline was shut, the company chief said on Thursday.

"We changed our decision and we are not going to call force majeure," Petroecuador President Fernando Zurita told Reuters after first saying the company was going to suspend exports. "We are going to do a bypass or use the private pipeline to transport the crude."

Petroecuador's main pipeline SOTE, which has the capacity to pump 400,000 barrels of oil per day, halted pumping oil after a landslide hit the line on Thursday afternoon.

The pipeline pumps most of the oil extracted by Petroecuador in the Amazon jungle to the ports on the Pacific Ocean. SOTE is one of only two pipelines that transports oil from the Amazon to ports. Petroecuador produces around 258,468 bpd. (Reporting by Alonso Soto; editing by Leslie Gevitz, Braden Reddall and Carol Bishopric)


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