QUITO (Dow Jones - July 16)--Ecuador's state-owned oil company Petroecuador plans to make investments of around $18 billion through 2015 in an effort to reverse a decline in its oil output and improve the company's performance.
According the Petroecuador's investment plan for the period 2009-15, around 55% of the investments will be allocated for a new refinery complex, some 8% for production and 7% for oil infrastructure.
Petroecuador is the majority shareholder in the joint-venture Refineria del Pacifico-CEM, set up with Petroleos de Venezuela, or PdVSA, for the refinery complex. Petroecuador holds a 51% stake in the venture, while PdVSA has 49%.
The construction company chosen for the project will be expected to finance 70% of the refinery's cost, with the remaining 30% financed by PdVSA and Petroecuador.
Refineria del Pacifico will be built in Ecuador's coastal province of Manabi. It is projected to begin operations in 2013 and process 300,000 barrels of crude a day. President Rafael Correa has said that construction of the project will start next year.
The new refinery is important for Ecuador, which has to import processed petroleum products such as gasoline because of a lack of refining capacity. Many of the Ecuador's new oil discoveries are heavy crude, which can't be processed at the country's three existing light-crude refineries.
Petroecuador President Luis Jaramillo said that the company will negotiate joint ventures with foreign state companies for financing Petroecuador's projects. Early this year, he said that Petroecuador is negotiating joint ventures with China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), known as Sinopec, along with state companies from Angola, among others.
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