Ecuador’s state-run oil company, declared on Wednesday a force majeure on all oil trading operations, according to an evening Tweet by Petroecuador, citing mass protests that have disrupted the country’s oil industry. Petroecuador also said that it had completely shut down the TransEcuadorean Pipeline System known as SOTE, which normally carries 360,000 barrels per day, because it does not have enough oil to move through it. The force majeure will last as long as the protests continue, Petroecuador claims. Thus far, the protests have disrupted more than 200,000 barrels of oil production, creating a loss of $12.8 million. Ecuador, who exports 315,000 bpd, currently has contracts with Chile, PetroChina, Unipec, and PetroThailand according to TeleSUR, but its larger clients include Chevron, Valero, and Marathon Petroleum Corp —Ecuador’s largest customer. Marathon purchased 59,000 bpd from Ecuador in July. The protests, which were sparked in part by high fuel prices, have […]