Ecuador and Indonesia sign oil deal for joint exploration study

PetroProduccion, a unit of Ecuadorian state-owned oil company PetroEcuador, and Indonesian state-owned oil company Pertamina signed an agreement calling for a joint study of the possible development of oil exploration and production projects in Ecuador.
Under the terms of the agreement, the two countries will conduct a study to determine the viability of petroleum operations in Ecuador's south-eastern Amazon region, the Mining and Petroleum Ministry said, adding that the goal of the arrangement was to expand the Andean nation's oil reserves.

PetroProduccion vice president Freddy Garcia and Pertamina's general manager in Ecuador, Theodorus Duma, signed the agreement. Ecuadorian Mining and Petroleum Minister Germanico Pinto and his Indonesian counterpart, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, signed the agreement as witnesses of honour.
Ecuador, the fifth-largest oil producer in Latin America, has output of some 510,000 bpd of crude, with some 55 % of that production coming from PetroEcuador and the rest from about a dozen foreign companies that operate in the Andean nation.

Ecuador has started to explore for natural gas, especially in the Gulf of Guayaquil.
Oil is Ecuador's main export product and revenues from its sale finance about 35 % of government spending.