OREANDA-NEWS. In the next two months Belorusneft will get a new contract in Ecuador.

On the 27th of August, 2014 after several rounds of negotiations “Agreement on Technical and Economic Conditions of the Geological Exploration and Development of Block No. 28” was signed in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. The agreement was reached by the representatives of the Belorusneft - Petroamazonas - ENAP alliance from one side and the Secretariat of Hydrocarbons at the Ministry of Non-renewable Natural Resources of Ecuador from the other.

The project on geological exploration and development of Block No. 28 is carried out by Belorusneft together with Ecuador state company Petroamazonas and Chile state company ENAP. The alliance was created in July, 2013 and in November it participated in the 11th round of Ecuador's government tender for acquisition of license for oil field development. 4 oil-producing blocks were put up for auction then. The Belarusian-Ecuadorian-Chilean trilateral union prepared a bid to develop one of them, namely, Block No. 28. This territory adjoins the Andes mountain range. The total area of the block is 1879 sq.km. Promising structures and traps detected on its territory are full of geological interest. But the work here is hampered by the fact that Block No. 28 is situated in hard-to-reach conditions of the Amazon rainforest.

According to the tender the winning company receives a contract which gives the right for geological exploration of subsoil for 4 years. In addition, on the basis of the results of the discovery of commercial oil deposits, the contract automatically presupposes development and exploitation of the field in a span of twenty years.

The signed Agreement was the last step towards signing of the Contract on geological exploration and development of Block No. 28. In the next two months all its aspects will be examined - from the legal components to detailed technical and economic appendices.