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Ecuador starts to shut down oil drilling on nature reserve

The Ecuadorean federal government on Wednesday began the procedure of shuttering oil wells in the 43ITT block, located on a huge nature reserve, after voters in 2015 backed a referendum to end drilling in the area on ecological issues.

The energy ministry stated in a declaration it closed among the 247 wells in the block, the Ishpingo B-56 well, part of a plan expected to take around five-and-a-half years.

The nation's constitutional court ruled in 2015 that state-owned Petroecuador had one year to remove facilities at the block, though authorities have stated development will take a lot longer.

Complying with the closure of ITT is not a simple job, it requires unique and technical planning, energy minister Antonio Goncalves stated in the statement.

Petroecuador has pumped around 50,000 barrels each day ( bpd) at 43-ITT since operations began in 2016. Overall crude production in the country is around 480,000 bpd, according to official data.

The cost of ending oil drilling at the block will top $ 1.3 billion, according to a government quote submitted to the constitutional court.

The seven Indigenous neighborhoods who reside on the Yasuni reserve, the largest in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, will also stop getting the legally mandated funds from Petroecuador for drilling at the website.

The wells must all go offline by December 2029, the federal government has said, however getting rid of all the facilities at the block could take till August 2030.

(source: Reuters)