Oil workers condemn smear campaign against privatization of state oil production Economy | News

The National Association of Energy and Petroleum Workers (Antep) has condemned a smear campaign against national oil production aimed at privatizing the country’s active hydrocarbon fields.

Earlier, Economy Minister Juan Carlos Vega said on August 7 that important oil fields in the hands of Ecuador’s oil company should be handed over to international companies, which could reverse the trend of declining production based on private sector investment and efficiency and start increasing it.

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In light of this, Antep issued a statement outlining its position on these claims, in which the group assured that the government and oil “pseudo-analysts” respond to the interests of foreign companies.

In this sense, they emphasize that the decline in oil production is a lie, an argument used to justify the privatization of oil fields such as Sasha and Amistad.

Antep supported its complaint with statistical reports published on the official website of PetroEcuador, which showed that PetroEcuador’s production 2023 Daily Averages by State From 386,504 barrelswhile First half of 2024 The average daily production reached 387,593 barrelswhich indicates an increase in trade unions.

They pointed out that the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Energy used normal daily production changes in oil activities to “slander” and position the idea that national production was falling.

Thursday, August 8, 2024 The daily oil production is 382,933 barrelsaccording to official data on the portal of Ecuador’s state oil company, Antep. Production was 4,660 barrels less than the average for the first semester, Antep said.

Likewise, they claim that the government’s story is a lie because they have not provided data or studies to prove the alleged benefits of handing over the country’s oil assets to international capital.

“Minister Vega should rather answer that PetroEcuador has embezzled about $600 million from its accounts this year alone, money that should have been used for investments to increase production. If this is true, it only shows that the government is sabotaging itself to justify the privatization of the oil fields,” the association said.

Likewise, they urged the Minister of State to speak the truth and work for the national interest or resign. (Yo)