Esmeraldas Refinery News

State-run oil company Petroecuador has launched tenders to buy a total volume of 3.84 million barrels of naphtha for delivery in the coming month at Esmeraldas, La Libertad or Punta Arenas ports, according to invitations seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Petroecuador has been this year ramping up purchases of fuels in anticipation of a major overhaul at the 110,000 barrel per day (bpd) Esmeraldas refinery, which this month started a 14-month upgrade. The company is this time requesting 1.2 million barrels of naphtha RON 87 for delivery in five 240,000-barrel cargoes starting on August 25-27; and 11 cargoes, same size, of high octane naphtha RON 93, starting delivery on September 1-3.

State-run company Petroecuador has awarded a tender to buy 18 cargoes of ultra low-sulfur diesel (ULSD) from U.S.-based oil firm Citizens Energy, a trader close to the deal told Reuters on Tuesday. The cargoes, of 240,000 barrels each, will be received in Ecuador starting in June. Ecuador, Latin America's sixth-largest crude producer and the smallest OPEC member, has ramped up tenders to import finished fuels in anticipation of a major overhaul at the 110,000 barrel per day (bpd) Esmeraldas refinery in October. This is the second tender that Petroecuador has awarded to Citizen Energy in recent months, after buying from it four 210,000 barrel cargoes of cutter stock to produce fuel oil that started to be delivered in April.

State-run Petroecuador has launched two tenders to buy a total of 22 cargoes, 240,000 barrels each, of high octane naphtha RON 87 and 93 for delivery starting on May 21-23, according to documents seen by Reuters on Thursday. The big imports by Ecuador's oil company come as it prepares to completely halt its largest refinery, Esmeraldas, from October to November for a major renovation. The company previously launched a similar tender earlier this month to buy 14 cargoes of high octane naphtha RON 95 and it also bought four cargoes of cutter stock from U.S. oil firm Citizen Resources Corp.