Amistad-Valvula de Playa gas pipeline

This article is part of the Global Fossil Infrastructure Tracker, a project of Global Energy Monitor.

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Amistad-Valvula de Playa gas pipeline, known locally as Gasoducto Amistad-Bajo Alto or Gasoducto Amistad, is an operating natural gas pipeline in Ecuador.

Location

The pipeline runs from the Amistad gas field in Guayaquil Bay to the coastal community of Bajo Alto, El Oro province, Ecuador.

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Project Details

• Operator: EP Petroecuador
• Owner: EP Petroecuador
• Capacity: 1.19 billion cubic meters per year
• Length: 71 kilometers / 44 miles
• Diameter: 13 inches
• Status: Operating
• Start Year:
• Associated infrastructure:
  • Amistad gas field

Background

The Amistad gas pipeline transports natural gas from Block 6 of the offshore Amistad gas field to supply the TermoGas Machala 1 power station on Ecuador's Pacific coast.

While the pipeline continues to operate, it has been underutilized due to insufficient production at the Amistad gas field. Demand from TermoGas Machala and other customers totals 90 million cubic feet per day (MMSCFD), while the Amistad field currently produces only 35 MMSCFD.

In October 2018, the Ecuadorian government held a tender soliciting bids for new production at the Amistad field, but the lone bidder was unable to meet the government's maximum drilling cost requirements of $15 million per well. Even with increased production, the most optimistic projections of gas supply from Amistad at the time totaled only 50 to 55 MMSCFD.

In December 2019, a new report estimated that the Amistad field was still capable of producing 90 MMSCFD, but development costs remained high, and Ecuador had begun studying natural gas imports from Peru as a means to compensate for the shortfall.

As of October 2020, the Ecuadorian government maintained that further development of the Amistad field was inviable due to limited reserves and excessive costs. However, in a February 2020 report Ecuador's state petroleum agency estimated that gas production could be tripled, and some Ecuadorian energy experts have continued calling for a strategic public-private partnership to finance further development of the country's offshore resources. As of September 2021, four private companies were said to be interested in forming such a partnership with the Ecuadorian government.

In June 2022, the state petroleum agency Petroecuador announced it would launch a tender process to select a private partner for development of the Amistad gas field. Petroecuador's plans called for an investment of US$500 million, with the goal of increasing production from the current 24 million cubic feet per day to 100 MMcf/d.