Work on two units began in September and was due to be completed in November. Production of derivatives fell 13.7% through November, according to the state oil company.

In September 2024, Petroecuador began maintenance work on key units of the Esmeraldas refinery. The interventions were to be completed within a period of 65 days each, meaning that the complex was to be fully operational again by November. However, the deadlines were not met because aspects were discovered that were not initially contemplated, the state oil company told this newspaper.

The first intervention was announced on September 5. Petroecuador then reported that said maintenance was scheduled for October, but it was brought forward. The works were going to focus on repairing the Fluidized Catalytic Fractionation Unit (FCC), considered “the heart” of the refinery, which suffered a valve blockage due to compressor failure, so it had to stop operating.

At that time, the public company reported that the work would take around 65 days to carry out comprehensive maintenance of the entire unit, a procedure that had not been carried out since 2015.

Then, on September 26, the state oil company announced that the following processing units were undergoing maintenance: Catalytic 1, for 40 days, and Non-Catalytic 1, for 65 days.

In the case of Catalíticas 1, the activities were going to be concentrated on the reactors and through the installation, cleaning, inspection and replacement of the catalyst, in the towers and containers, in the heat exchangers, among other actions.

At No Catalíticas 1, inspection and repair work would be carried out on the dynamic equipment, towers and vessels, heat exchangers and furnaces for the placement of blind joints, opening, cleaning and changing of tubes, Petroecuador reported in a statement on September 26.

The oil company said that after the repair of the units, the refinery would reach a production of 98,000 barrels of hydrocarbon derivatives per day.

The deadlines were met, but maintenance work is still ongoing, Petroecuador confirmed on January 6, in response to queries made by EL UNIVERSO on December 12.

The entity explained that during the intervention in the Non-Catalytic and Catalytic 1 units, “additional activities were identified as a result of inspections carried out on the equipment.” This caused the initial scope of the work to be increased, the entity confirmed.

He did not provide details of what these additional activities were. However, he explained that inspections were carried out using different types of tests, which can only be carried out with the unit out of service on various pieces of equipment in the Non-Catalytic 1 and Catalytic 1 units.

“These inspections, carried out with the foreign technical support of the licensor UOP (Universal Oil Products), included specific tests on the reactor and regenerator of the FCC unit. As a result, additional essential activities were identified that were not contemplated in the initial scope of maintenance, which has extended the time required to complete the work,” the public company described.

He confirmed that work at the refinery was temporarily suspended due to the need to formalize “a new contract to carry out the additional activities detected during the inspections.” The original contract was thus suspended until the activities are completed, he said.

"This measure was necessary to ensure that all interventions are carried out correctly before proceeding with the commissioning and start-up stages of the units," Petroecuador said.

When asked when the maintenance is expected to end, the state company responded as follows:

• Non-Catalytic Unit I: The start-up of the units is estimated to be by January 20, 2025.
• Catalytic Unit I (FCC): Maintenance is scheduled to end on February 4, 2025. This will be followed by an 11-day period dedicated to refractory drying and start-up activities, with tank production scheduled for February 15, 2025.

Production of derivatives fell 13.7%

According to data provided by the oil company, the Esmeraldas refinery produced 1.6 million barrels of derivatives in September, 2.2 million in October, 2.2 million in November and 892 thousand until December 12.

The refinery's derivatives production includes: Imported NAO for the preparation of Extra and Eco País gasoline; and for the dispatch of Super Premium 95 RON Gasoline; and Imported Diesel 2 (diluent) for the preparation of Fuel Oil.

The Esmeraldas refinery has an operating capacity of 110,000 barrels per day. In 2024, the complex has not been able to operate at 100% on several occasions due to postponements in maintenance.

The consequences of the refinery's difficulties can be seen in its low production. Between January and November 2024, the latest available data, the complex's total production fell by 13.7% compared to the same period in 2023, from 33.6 million barrels of derivatives (January-November 2023) to 29 million (January-November 2024), according to Petroecuador's monthly statistical report.

“It was obvious that they were going to encounter problems”

Darío Dávalos, an energy expert, recalled that the last maintenance to the FCC unit was carried out in 2019 and, on the recommendation of the licensing company UOP, it was to be carried out two years later, but it was not done due to the pandemic and subsequently other events.

The expert commented that the intervention at the refinery should not have taken so many years. “It is obvious that they were going to find a series of problems,” said Dávalos, and he believed that the findings pointed out by Petroecuador could be related to problems in the refractory of the FCC unit, which has already presented problems in the past, among other aspects of the infrastructure. “The FCC unit is an extremely delicate unit,” he pointed out.

Dávalos criticized Petroecuador for not being transparent about what happened and not disclosing what was found. “I think it is a mistake that they do not report what they found. It is important to tell the public what was found, because it is part of having certainty about what is happening with the country's strategic structures,” he said.

He indicated that the longer the maintenance time of these refinery units, which are essential for the operation of the rest of the complex, the more Petroecuador will need to import hydrocarbon derivatives.