OREANDA-NEWS. September 14, 2017. State-owned PetroEcuador is preparing several crude tenders in 2018 following its return to the spot market this month, the company's new chief executive Byron Ojeda told Argus.

Following a hiatus of more than three years, PetroEcuador hopes to resume a policy of exporting at least 10pc of its Napo and Oriente grades and its fuel oil through spot sales.

The company today received eight offers in a tender to sell 2.16mn bl of 24°API Oriente crude.

The volume will be divided into six shipments of 360,000 bl each for delivery starting on 27-29 September.

Glencore bid a $0.51/bl premium to the WTI price; Repsol offered a premium of $0.03/bl; Unipec Asia -$1.57/bl; Vitol -$2.38/bl; PetroPeru -$2.69/bl; Phillips 66 -$2.67/bl; Trafigura -$2.72/bl, and Cosmo Oil at -$5.00/bl.

Since 2010 Ecuador has sold its crude and fuel oil through a series of oil-backed loan agreements with companies such as PetroChina, a subsidiary of China's state-owned CNPC, Unipec, a state-owned Sinopec subsidiary, and was left virtually no surplus oil for spot sales since May 2014.

In 2018 Ecuador will continue to sell its crude through a mix of long-term agreements, such as oil-backed loans, and the spot market, according to oil minister Carlos Perez.