An Alternative Proposal For Sustainable Development: The Ecuador’s ITT Project

Date
2008-04
Authors
Condor-Tarco, Jose
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Regina, Graduate Students' Association
Abstract

The ITT heavy oil project in Ecuador has been under constant debate in the country’s oil industry. The three fields, Ishpingo, Tiputini and Tambococha, are guessed to have a combined of more than 5 billion barrels of in-place reserves. Tiputini field, the first one being discovered, was included as reserves as far back as 1970, but due to its oil´s quality this field was not exploited. It is only nowadays that the Ecuadorian government is trying to make use of it. The ITT fields are widely known to be located in an environmentally sensitive area and many believe they should not be developed at all. This prompted the government of Ecuador to ask the international community if any organization would be willing to pay it $350 million a year to leave the fields undeveloped. Some interest has been shown in this route, and if it goes ahead, it would lead to ITT being probably the first major field in the world to have its development ‘bought out’ on environmental grounds. First, this poster deals with the feasibility of ITT exploitation considering its driving forces and obstacles. The second part consists of an alternative option proposed by the Ecuadorian government to the international community to leave the oil underground. The Ecuadorian government is requesting to the international community an economic compensation in change for leaving the oil underground.

Description
Poster presented at the 3rd Graduate Students' Research Conference, April 2008.
Keywords
Sustainability, Petroleum exploitation
Citation