Ecuador's oil production should rise to 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) by the end of this year, the oil minister said on Tuesday, up from an average of 504,000 bpd last year.
Investments by Petroamazonas, the operations division of state oil company Petroecuador, and by private companies were key to the projected increase, said Pedro Merizalde, the minister for non-renewable resources.
The government of President Rafael Correa revamped the country's oil field contracts in 2010 by ordering joint venture partners to become service contractors.
Merizalde said in a statement that private energy companies working in Ecuador were on track to exceed an agreement made in 2010 to invest some $1.143 billion over three years.
"By next December it is estimated (that they will have invested) more than $1.253 billion," the minister said.
Petroamazonas accounts for just over 60 percent of the crude pumped in the South American OPEC nation. The statement says it will invest between $800 million and $1 billion in drilling and maintenance at its wells this year.
