PetroEcuador Appoints Carlos Pareja as New Head of Refining
PetroEcuador, the South American country’s state-owned oil company, named its former president Carlos Pareja the head of refining operations, four years after firing him for poor management.
Pareja, a chemical engineer who was the country’s vice minister of oil until his appointment, will replace Marcelo Robalino, the company said in an e-mailed statement today, citing Chief Executive Officer Marco Calvopina. The statement didn’t say why Robalino was stepping down.
Ecuador, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ smallest member, is reorganizing its operations after seeing production decline 2.7 percent to 504,000 barrels a day since President Rafael Correa took office in January 2007, according to the country’s central bank. PetroEcuador is spending $1.4 billion to repair its Esmeraldas and Shushufindi refineries to boost output and improve fuel quality.
Pareja was dismissed in 2007 amid protests that halted production at 47 oil wells in the country’s Amazon region and prompted Correa to declare the company in a state of emergency.
–Bloomberg
