Ecuador has received a billion dollars from PetroChina as prepayment for crude oil sales, Finance Minister Patricio Rivero said Tuesday.
Rivero did not say how much oil was involved but that it was a two-year contract that would begin in August. It was the second time Quito used the prepayment regime with China.
Ecuador, the OPEC member with the lowest crude output, pumped 486,000 barrels per day in 2010, of which 62 percent were moved by Petroecuador and the rest by foreign firms such as China's CNPC.
Of its output, the South American nation exported about 340,000
bpd, generating $8.93 billion, according to Central Bank data. - Sapa-AFP