LONDON (Alliance News) - Amerisur Resources PLC Thursday said its shareholders are set to benefit "tremendously" from its pipeline project which ultimately aims to connect the Platanillo field in Colombia with the oil pipeline system in Ecuador, named Oleoducto Binacional Amerisur.
Amerisur said Thursday it has secured all the necessary approvals to begin drilling and installing a pipeline under a river as part of the project to connect the Colombian oilfield with the oil pipeline system in Ecuador.
Authorities in Ecuador have issued an environmental licence that allows the construction and operation of the 10.8 inch pipeline to the Victor Hugo Ruales field in Ecuador from Pad 9S in the Platanillo field, Colombia.
That licence has allowed Amerisur to begin drilling and installing the pipeline underneath a river crossing in Ecuador, which it said will take around 35 days to complete.
The other 3.9 kilometres of pipeline from the Victor Hugo Ruales field to the river crosssing is also being buried and constructed.
Civil works at the reception area of Oleoducto Binacional Amerisur and the 5,000-barrel reception tank in Ecuador have been completed and other piping and instrumentation is 72% complete, the company said.
Operational testing and commissioning of the pipeline, measurement and export pumping systems expected to be performed in late March, followed thereafter by first transport.
"I would like to congratulate the executive on this remarkable achievement. The Amerisur shareholders will benefit tremendously from this pipeline in the years ahead as we significantly reduce our operating costs per barrel in the short term and as we grow production in the Putumayo region from multiple blocks in the medium term," said Chairman Giles Clarke.
"Significant value will be unlocked through this, benefiting both our shareholders and the two nations involved. Bi-lateral infrastructure projects between two countries are extremely complicated as the building of the Channel Tunnel between the UK and France demonstrated," he added.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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