Country Analysis Briefs: Ecuador, October 26, 2012.

摘要

By global standards, Ecuador is a relatively small oil producer and exporter. However, the oil sector plays a prominent role in the country's politics and economic welfare. The oil sector accounts for about 50 percent of Ecuador's export earnings and about one-third of all tax revenues. Despite being a crude oil exporter, Ecuador must still import refined petroleum products due to the lack of sufficient domestic refining capacity to meet local demand. As a result, the country does not always reap the full rewards of high world oil prices while these high prices bring Ecuador greater export revenues, they also increase the country's refined product import bill. Ecuador rejoined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 2007, after leaving the organization at the end of 1992. Ecuador is OPEC's smallest oil producer and exporter. Despite an increasingly challenging investment environment, Ecuador has managed to slightly increase production since 2009.