Permitting and Building an Oil Pipeline in Lago Agrio, Ecuador

摘要

The Ecuadorian Amazon has a history of conflict over large petroleum infrastructure projects,particularly pipelines. The rapidly growing city of Lago Agrio is at one terminus of the recentlyconstructed and controversial OCP Trans-Andean export pipeline and is the location of a legaldispute over impacts from petroleum development in the 1970s. EnCana was faced with the dif-ficult task in 2002 of permitting and building a crude oil pipeline around this city to connect withOCP. EnCana analyzed thirteen different ROW alternatives, jointly with other petroleum compa-nies interested in sharing the ROW to determine the three best alternatives. The goals were tominimize social and environmental impacts, allow for sharing of a ROW with four different oilcompanies, be compatible with the Lago Agrio plans for urban growth, and be economically andtechnical feasible. These three alternatives were presented to the external stakeholders including:local, regional and national governments, community councils, individual land owners, religiousorganizations and NGOs. A key strategic decision was made by EnCana to maintain transparencythroughout the consultation process and flexibility in the final design, despite the atmosphere ofconflict. The product of this process was a fourth alternative that addressed specific micro-routingissues, public participation in monitoring, and a special exemption from the hydrocarbon law toallow multiple pipelines in a single ROW. The pipelines in the ROW were constructed in 2002-2003 with no public controversy and have been operating to date without incidents.