QUITO – Ecuadorian oil firm Petroamazonas said Thursday it will begin developing a new field in the country’s Amazon region with a capacity to produce 23,000 barrels per day of “semi-heavy” crude.

The Pañacocha prospect is located in Sucumbios province near the Limoncocha and Eden-Yuturi fields, which also are being developed by Petroamazonas, a unit of state-owned Petroecuador.

The new field, which Petroamazonas says contains deposits with an API gravity of 23 degrees, will allow the company to expand its current output of 100,000 bpd, equal to roughly a fifth of the country’s total production.

Construction of the new oil complex began with clean-up work at several drilling platforms that had been used in previous prospecting efforts at that deposit.

The next steps will involve building access roads and a port on the nearby Aguarico River and installing drilling platforms and operation camps, Petroamazonas said in a statement.

Project manager Oswaldo Madrid said “the environmental impact studies and environmental licenses were approved in June, prior to the beginning of construction work,” adding that talks have been held with local peasant communities as required by law.

He also said Petroamazonas will use “cutting-edge technology with minimal environmental impact” in developing the project, which will be carried out “under strict safety, health and environmental (protection) parameters.”

Giant ponds full of waste left by oil companies can be found in several areas of Sucumbios province, and some area residents are currently suing U.S. oil major Chevron for $27 billion over environmental damage caused by Texaco – which Chevron acquired in 2001.

Chevron says Texaco did its part in the clean-up effort years ago, that a previous Ecuadorian government cleared it of all responsibility in 1998 and that Petroecuador is to blame for the pollution.

Ecuador is the fifth-largest oil producer in the Americas, pumping some 480,000 barrels per day.

Oil is Ecuador’s leading export product and oil revenues finance 35 percent of that nation’s budget. EFE