Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Mines said Ecuador may have to suspend oil production for the next 48 hours if indigenous protests and roadblocks continue.
Ecuador’s oil industry has been severely damaged by various incidents, including the closure of the country’s oil wells.
Protests to overthrow the government in the past two weeks led to a drop in oil production of more than 1.3 million barrels, with the state oil company Petroecuador the hardest hit. It lost 1,061,875 barrels of crude oil production.
Other oil producers operating in the country reported that 272,223 barrels of oil were lost due to the protests. This has led to the closure of 1,176 oil wells, 996 of which belong to Petroecuador and 180 to other companies.
Petroleum is the main commodity that Ecuador exports and is the main source of income for the country’s budget.
The protests began on June 13 after the Confederation of Indigenous Peoples of Ecuador (CONAIE) called on the government to accept economic and social demands.