Ecuador expects to surpass by about 3% its initial oil production target set for 2014, reaching an average of 560,000 barrels a day, a high-level government official said. “Our goal for production in 2014 was an average of 545,000 barrels a day, but we will produce about 560,000 barrels a day,” Minister of Non Renewable Natural Resources Pedro Merizalde said in an interview. According to the central bank, Ecuador’s average oil output rose 7% to 555,000 barrels a day between January and September, from 520,000 barrels a day a year earlier. State-run companies Petroamazonas and Rio Napo accounted for 76% of Ecuador’s crude oil production in the period. For next year, the Andean country expects to reach an output of 566,000 barrels a day, before jumping to about 700,000 barrels a day in 2019, when oil block 43, also known as ITT, will be producing oil. Last year President […]