ICBC pledges $9 billion USD loan to Ecuador for Pacifico Refinery

On June 6, 2013, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and PetroEcuador signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the development of the Refinery of the Pacific. Project ownership is expected to be divided among the three developers: PetroEcuador at 51%, CNPC with 30%, and PDVSA at 19%. The project was initially estimated to cost $10 billion, and would have been Ecuador's largest infrastructure project. Around $1.5 billion was sunk to prepare the site for construction. ICBC was also set to loan $2 billion to PetroEcuador, and an additional $7 billion in September. However, on August 2, the financing was indefinitely delayed, because there was a "very strong change from Chinese authorities," according to President Correa. This was in reference to President Xi Jinping's newly launched anti-corruption operation, which an included an audit commission arriving in Ecuador to review all ongoing projects. While there is limited information provided about the findings of the audit, ICBC reportedly confirmed it was no longer involved with the project in September 2014 to a representative to an environmental advocacy group. Mention of CNPC's share in the refinery were not mentioned in future reports on the status of the project. That status is currently 'paralyzed,' as there are serious financial disputes with PDVSA. The current investment in the project is $1.5 billion, of which Venezuela contributed only $200 million. On August 15 2017, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno announced that the Pacific Refinery project would be completed only with private investment, which was sought with a project revalued at $11 billion under the government’s “Invest Ecuador 2018” program. In March 2018, the company Refinería del Pacífico (RDP), which was originally created to carry out the project, began liquidation proceedings. In 2019, the Pacifico Refinery was part of a special independent international audit into $4.9 billion worth of oil-related infrastructure investment in Ecuador.

Additional details

Number of official sources

4

Number of total sources

33