Environment approves the environmental study of the Pambil B platform in Orellana

The Ministry of Environment and Energy approved the complementary study to the environmental impact study and its management plan to construct the Pambil B Platform, expand the access road, and drill 9 wells in the PBHI Block, in the province of Orellana. The decision is contained in Resolution No. MAE-SCA-2026-0013-RM, signed on October 1, 2026, by the acting Undersecretary of Environmental Quality, Gary Mauricio Báez Freire, and published in Official Registry No. 398 on Tuesday, October 27, 2026.

The instrument was processed as a complementary study, a figure provided for in Article 176 of the Organic Environmental Code and Article 446 of its Regulations, for additional medium or high-impact activities that do not change the main objective of the permit already granted. The operator is ENAP SIPETROL S.A., responsible for Block 47 PBHI, and the area is located in the Orellana canton, El Dorado parish, although the second provision of the resolution also mentions the cantons of La Joya de los Sachas and Francisco de Orellana and the parishes of San Sebastián del Coca and Puerto Francisco de Orellana.

An amendment to the 2016 environmental license

Article 1 of the resolution approves the study and Article 2 amends Ministerial Resolution No. 232 of August 8, 2016, which granted the environmental license for the Intracampos project in the PBHI Block and which at the time ordered the merging of the block’s licenses into one. The activities being incorporated are:

• Construction of the Pambil B Platform.
• Expansion and improvement of the existing access road, which will connect with a new road section entering the platform.
• Drilling of 9 wells.

Article 3 establishes that these components become an integral part of the 2016 license and that non-compliance may lead to suspension or revocation, in accordance with Articles 187 and 188 of the Organic Environmental Code. The resolution is effective from its signing, regardless of its publication, and entrusts its application to the Undersecretariat of Environmental Quality and Zonal Directorate 8 of the ministry.

From “non-compliant” to a favorable pronouncement

The file was registered in the Single Environmental Information System on March 25, 2022, with code MAAE-RA-2022-427122. On that same day, intersection certificate MAAE-SUIA-RA-DRA-2022-00064 determined that the project does not intersect with the National System of Protected Areas, the National Forest Heritage, or intangible zones, but it does intersect with special biodiversity conservation areas: Napo-Curaray lowland evergreen forest, agricultural mosaic, and the conservation area PSB Montenegro Manuel Mesías (MAE-PSB-I-2011-I-052).

The process accumulated two negative rulings. Through official letter MAATE-DRA-2022-1001-O, dated August 29, 2022, the Directorate of Environmental Regularization concluded that the study “DOES NOT COMPLY with the provisions of the applicable environmental regulations”; the same conclusion was repeated in official letter MAATE-DRA-2022-1512-O, dated December 18, 2022, despite the fact that the Forestry Directorate had already approved the forest inventory. The turn came with official letter MAATE-SCA-2023-0546-O, dated February 27, 2023, which declared that the study “COMPLIES” with the Environmental Regulation for Hydrocarbon Operations, Ministerial Agreement 100-A, and issued a favorable technical ruling.

Environmental consultation in El Dorado and concerns regarding the communities

A technical report from November 2022 determined that the activities expanded the direct social area of influence to the communities of La Paz, Alma Lojana, and El Oro, in the parish of El Dorado, and therefore required the citizen participation process. The informative phase was convened in March 2026 and notified in April and May to the Ombudsman’s Office, the Prefecture of Orellana, the Municipal GAD of Orellana, the Governorship of Orellana, the Parochial GAD of El Dorado, the Political Chief of Orellana, and the operator.

The consultative phase was executed in July 2026. Through memorandum MAE-SCA-2026-0710-ME, dated August 2, 2026, the Undersecretariat of Environmental Quality approved the systematization of the process and declared it finished, after confirming that the position of the consulted parties was one of agreement. Official letter MAE-SCA-2026-1720-OF, dated August 3, 2026, then established the prerequisites for the issuance of the permit:

• Payment of 1x1000 of the total project cost, with a minimum of USD 1,000.
• Payment for Control and Monitoring for the first year: USD 480, calculated with a daily inspection of USD 80, 2 technicians, and 3 days of visit.
• Valuation of ecosystem goods and services for USD 1,442.44.
• Guarantee or performance bond for the management plan for 100% of the valued schedule, equivalent to USD 470,953.84; the operator presented policy GB26B00609.

Impact

The resolution enables new hydrocarbon activity in the Ecuadorian Amazon based on a license issued a decade ago and closes a file that was marked by technical observations for four years. The text acknowledges that the project intervenes in native forest and in a conservation area, and conditions the validity of the license on strict compliance with a management plan backed by a policy of nearly half a million dollars; for the communities of El Dorado, the step remains subject to the execution of that plan and the monitoring of Zonal Directorate 8.

Source: Official Registry No. 398, Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Section I, page 2 (official reference: Resolution No. MAE-SCA-2026-0013-RM).