Opening announcement for the modernization, expansion and comprehensive operation of the Esmeraldas refinery and implementation of the high conversion process

This Petroecuador release was published using machine translation.

The Ministry of Energy and Mines, together with EP Petroecuador, announced the call that will be made official this Monday, October 3, 2022 to public or private companies, national or foreign, to the international public tender for the selection of a winning company, to execute, in all its stages, the Joint Management Project for the modernization, expansion and comprehensive operation of the Esmeraldas Refinery and implementation of the high conversion process, with full financing by the successful bidder”.

The objective of this contest, motivated by the General Manager of EP Petroecuador, Hugo Aguiar Lozano and supported by the Minister of Energy, Xavier Vera Grunauer, is to generate savings for the Ecuadorian State, optimize the company's assets and release resources that can be used in social issues, priority for the Government of the Meeting, led by the President of the Republic, Guillermo Lasso Mendoza.

Through this technical delegation, the legal entity or consortium of legal entities that are selected will be in charge of the modernization, expansion and comprehensive operation of the Esmeraldas Refinery and must build, at its own risk and with its own resources, a Additional high-conversion train to the current Esmeraldas Refinery, to improve the quality and efficiency of fuels, which will ensure the country the continuous supply of hydrocarbon derivatives under international standards of operation, quality and strict environmental regulations.

This process is made possible based on Executive Decree No. 1094, issued on July 10, 2020, and Executive Decree No. 302 of December 27, 2021. Additionally, on September 20, 2022, the Minister of Energy and Mines , Xavier Vera, issued the Ministerial Agreement No. MEM-MEM-2022-0046-AM, which consists of eight articles. This Resolution creates a High-Level Technical Commission, dependent on the Minister of Energy and Mines and the General Manager of EP Petroecuador, which will be in charge of preparing the documents, instructions, requirements, administrative procedure to be applied for the selection and the recommendation for the award to the best proposal, declaration of desert or cancellation of the same, and in general all the necessary documents, safeguarding, at all times, the interests of the State.

The call for this international bidding process will be published this Monday , October 3 in the national press. The bases will be available for 15 calendar days from the explanatory hearing that will take place in the offices of the Ministry of Energy and Mines in Quito.

Prior to the acquisition of the bases, the interested parties must sign the respective Confidentiality Agreement with the Ministry and Petroecuador, which will protect all the information and that which is subsequently generated.

EP Petroecuador, in accordance with the transparency policy of its administration, will report all the progress of this international tender and stresses that this asset will always remain the property of the public company, in which the strategic partner will assume all of the financing.