Ecuador announced it will leave OPEC in January 2020 as the Andean economy seek to ramp up oil production to increase hydrocarbon revenue in a sluggish economic context. The country joined OPEC in 1973, departed in 1992 and restarted its membership in 2007.
Ecuador’s output quota, fixed at 508,000 bbl/d for the first six months of 2019, was inferior by 4% to its production, which reached 530,000 bbl/d, according to OPEC’s data. In February 2019, the Ecuadorian Government asked for a quota exemption, but it is unclear if the organisation considered its request.
Quito is currently developing the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini (ITT) block in the Yasuni national park in the Amazon region, whose production has reached close to 83,000 bbl/d in September 2019. Ecuador’s oil output reached 507,000 bbl/d in 2018 (OPEC). ITT is expected to increase national production to 700,000 bbl/d by 2021.