Operations
Petroecuador is engaged in the exploration, production, storage, refining of crude oil, and retailing petroleum products. It operates through subsidiaries, such as Petroproduccion (exploration and production), Petroindustrial (refining), and Petrocomercial (transportation and marketing of refined products). The company operates several oil fields, including Shushufindi, Sacha, Auca, Lago Agrio, and Libertador. It also operates the Trans-Ecuadorian oil pipeline network, Sistema de Oleoducto Transecuatoriano (SOTE), built in 1972 for Texaco-Gulf. Ecuador is the sixth largest oil producer in the Latin American region.
Petroecuador owns three petroleum refineries in Ecuador:
Esmeraldas Refinery, 110,000 barrels per day (17,000 m3/d) (began 1978)
La Libertad Refinery, 45,000 barrels per day (7,200 m3/d)
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Shushufindi Refinery, 20,000 barrels per day (3,200 m3/d)
The Sector organization in 2012 was organized into the National Oil Companies (NOC's), Petroecuador, Petroamazonas and the Operaciones Rio Napo (which is jointly owned between Ecuador and Venezuela).
The company's marketing network includes 148 Petrocomercial service stations.
The largest production of oil in Ecuador is concentrated in the Northeastern part of the province. The Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) in the Yasuni National Park is said to hold 909 million barrels of oil reserves, yet controversial social relations causes protests and political conflicts. The indigenous social relations regarding the oil production of Ecuador are facing controversial issues. The indigenous communities have suffered various consequences for the growing energy sector in Ecuador as it seeks to expand. The state policies have caused domestic conflicts among local communities where the indigenous territories and practices are overlooked in expense to the state economic benefits. In 2003 and in 2010, the protests escalated due to political campaigns urging privatization (2003), and expansionist policies enabling foreign corporations access to the market (2010).
As of August 2016, the company owns and operates an Embraer ERJ 145LR aircraft, which was delivered directly from Embraer in October 2008.
In 2025, after the rupture in the pipeline in March, Petroecuador declared a force majeure since production was reduced by more than 130,000 barrels per day due to the disruption in the SOTE and OCP pipelines and well closures in July 2025, caused by erosion along the Coca River.
Lago Agrio oil field operations
Between the years 1964 and 1992, the Texaco Corporation and years later Petroecuador carried on intensive oil operations in the northeastern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. These operations affected indigenous and non-indigenous local livelihoods in the area by impairing the ecological functions and biodiversity of thousands of acres of land. Today the effects of these operations have been investigated and through the dumping crude in open pits, burying oil extraction byproducts, and burning unwanted oil without proper treatment, cancer rates amongst indigenous and non-indigenous residence has increased dramatically with in a ten-year time period. As oil weathers, contamination occurs as aromatic compounds are released and invade surrounding aquifers.
