Ecuador hopes to produce at least 500,000 bbl/d of oil by the end of 2021, from the current 485,000 bbl/d level. In 2019, the country's oil production averaged 538,000 bbl/d and Ecuador targets an oil output of 1 mb/d by 2025. The state-owned oil and gas company Petroecuador and other producers are conducting drilling campaigns as they aim to raise production.
In July 2021, Ecuador approved a new hydrocarbon policy that creates new risk-sharing agreements, in a bid to attract US$30bn in investment to its oil sector by 2025. Under risk-sharing contracts, oil companies must invest their own capital to develop a field. In exchange, they will receive a portion of the profits of oil sales. In addition, the authorities, which aim to boost crude oil production from the current level of around 500 kb/d, will launch a study to determine which fields will remain operated by the national oil company Petroecuador or be selected for international bidding rounds. Ecuador left OPEC in January 2020 as the Andean economy was seeking to ramp up oil production.