Ecuador's state-run oil company PetroEcuador said on Tuesday that it had renewed the contract with the Spanish-Argentine energy company Repsol-YPF, for another six years' cooperation in the Tivacuno oil field in Ecuador's Amazonian region.

The contract was first signed in 1996, and would now run until 2012, but some terms had been changed to benefit Ecuador, PetroEcuador said.

According to the new contract, Repsol-YPF agrees to invest 30 million U.S. dollars in new drilling to increase Tivacuno's output to 8,000 barrels per day (bpd). The field currently produces 1,600 bpd of medium oil.

Repsol-YPF also agrees to give Ecuador 50 percent of the selling price of the crude, in line with a new law passed by Ecuador in April.

PetroEcuador said it chose to renew the contract because it did not have the financial and technical resources to achieve the extraction levels promised by Repsol-YPF. Ecuador would take at least four more years to reach the same output levels, it said.

PetroEcuador added that because of its poor financial situation, it was unlikely to take over the Tivacuno field in 2012 when the new operating contract expired.

Source: Xinhua