Opec sec gen invites Ecuador to rejoin producer group

Opec secretary general Haitham al-Ghais has invited Ecuador to rejoin the producer group, three and a half years after it left.

In a letter to Ecuadorean energy minister Fernando Santos, dated 12 May and made public by the ministry today, al-Ghais said Opec saw Ecuador's return "as a top priority" that would "greatly benefit" the South American nation.

"Ecuador is an important oil producer and exporter, and the secretariat believes that your esteemed country would greatly benefit from the information and knowledge that Opec shares with its member countries, as well as the possibility of strengthening diplomatic ties with like-minded oil producing countries," the letter said.

Al-Ghais said he was prepared to visit Ecuador "to personally explain the multiple advantages of joining Opec" to Santos and President Guillermo Lasso.

The country joined Opec in 1973, and suspended its membership in 1992. It reactivated that in 2007, only to leave again at the end of 2019 as part of a government belt-tightening programme.

"The decision is based on the internal affairs and challenges that the country has to assume, related to fiscal sustainability," the ministry said at the time, adding that it aligned with the government's plan to cut spending and generate new revenues.

At that time, Ecuador's crude production was around 550,000 b/d, making it the Opec group's fourth smallest producer behind Congo (Brazzaville), Equatorial Guinea and Gabon. Its output has been edging down ever since, with latest figures from the Ecuadorean central bank putting production at 461,000 b/d in the first quarter of this year.

The energy ministry in March revised down its production target for the year, by 6pc to 490,000 b/d from 521,000 b/d, because of indigenous communities' strikes, power outages and the shutdown of main pipelines at the start of the year.

By Nader Itayim