ECUADOR TO ASK OPEC TO RAISE EXPORT QUOTA
Ecuador will ask OPEC to raise its oil
export quota by 100,000 barrels per day to 310,000 to
compensate for lost output due to last week's earthquake,
deputy Energy Minister Fernando Santos Alvite said.
    Santos Alvite, who arrived in Caracas last night to discuss
an aid plan for Ecuador, did not say when the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would be approached.
    The additional output would be related to plans now under
discussion for Venezuela and Mexico to lend Ecuador crude while
it repairs a pipeline damaged by the quake.
    Earlier, Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Aturo
Hernandez Grisanti said his country would supply an unspecified
part of Ecuador's export commitments.
    But Santos Alvite told reporters he hoped a first cargo of
300,000 barrels could leave Maracaibo this weekend to supply
refineries near Guayaquil. He added Ecuador also wanted to make
up for 50,000 bpd it shipped to Caribbean destinations. Mexico
might supply Ecuador's South Korean market.
    Ecuador may be unable to export oil for up to five months
due to extensive damage to a 25 mile stretch of pipeline
linking jungle oilfields to the Pacific port of Balao.
 REUTER
