Peru, Ecuador sign oil deals

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QUITO, Ecuador, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A deal that would link oil pipelines traversing Peru and Ecuador serves as an example of energy integration in the Amazon basin, an official said.

More than a decade after the countries signed a peace deal ending more than 100 years of border wars, the governments of Peru and Ecuador signed an agreement to look for oil in Ecuador, reports Bloomberg News.

Oil reserves in Ecuador were estimated at 6.5 billion barrels as of January 2011, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said. As a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, net oil exports are estimated at 285,000 barrels per day. Peruvian oil reserves in 2011 were estimated at 533 million barrels.

State-owned oil companies from each country aim to bid for oil concessions in Ecuador in October. Ecuador Natural Resources Minister Wilson Pastor said both sides agreed to work on a $300 million project to connect Ecuador's oil deposits to Peruvian ports.

"We intend to make the Amazon basin's oil infrastructure an example of energy integration," Pastor was quoted as saying.

It will take at about three years for the completion of integration.