Economy & Business - April 2007

The energy minister, Alberto Acosta, argued that the country must now start to prepare for the time when the oil had run out. He argued that this is why the country should make strategic agreements with Venezuela, the region's main oil producer. 

Acosta said that the country had 4.8bn barrels of oil. Of this 1bn lie in the ITT block which has not yet been tapped because it is in the middle of the Yasuní­ national park. The Yasuní­ national park is in Amazonia and ecologists fiercely oppose any attempt to produce oil from it. 

Oil has been the country's main export for the past 30 years. The country's daily production is running at about 530,000 barrels. This makes the country the fifth biggest oil producer in South America. 

Acosta claimed that when Ecaudor ran out of oil, Venezuela would still have three quarters of its current proven reserves intact. This meant, he said, that an alliance with Venezuela was a prudent long-term strategy. 

Mexico : Oil production from Petróleos Mexicanos, the state monopoly fell for the eighth consecutive month in March to 3.18m bpd. This was 5% below output in March 2006. The main reason for the fall in output is wilting production from Cantarell, the country' s main oilfield. Over the past 12 months production from Cantarell has fallen by 17% to 1.59m bpd. Production from the Ku-Maloob-Zaap complex, also in the Gulf of Mexico, rose by 26%, year-on-year to 518,989bpd. End of preview - This article contains approximately 274 words.

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