Fracking starts in Amazon rainforest as Ecuador boosts energy output

Representational image. Pic/iStock

Ecuador has started fracking in the Amazon rainforest for the first time, state oil company Petroecuador said Wednesday.

Fracking entails extracting natural gas and petroleum from subterranean bedrock, and is criticized for using industrial quantities of water to break open rocks as well as causing chemical contamination and provoking micro-earthquakes.

Ecuador, which has suffered chronic energy shortages, is one of several countries in the Americas including Argentina and Mexico to turn to the contentious extraction method.

It has begun fracking at an oilfield in the northeastern province of Sucumbios, Petroecuador said in a statement.

The project, jointly conducted with the Chinese company CCDC, represents "a new horizon" for oil production in the country, it said.

"The strengthening of oil activities...reaffirms the commitment to consolidate an energy matrix that is sustainable, competitive and geared toward national economic development," it added.

Ecuador, a country of 17 million people, relies on hydro generation for 70 percent of its electric power, but consumes more energy than it produces.

It suffered prolonged electricity outages during droughts in 2024 and 2025.

Multiple factors including a lack of investment pushed Ecuadoran crude oil production down to 441,000 barrels per day in 2025 -- of which 74 percent was exported.

Fracking in the Amazon will produce more than 930 barrels a day, according to Petroecuador.

Ecuador did not attend a landmark conference this week in Santa Marta, Colombia, where some 60 countries convened to discuss pivoting away from fossil fuels as a way to combat climate change.

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