Bidding begins for Yasuní oil project

Only days after Ecuador’s election commission rejected signatures that would have forced a national referendum on oil drilling in the Yasuni national park, the government has started to accept bids for preparation work at the drilling site.

Geologists say that the area contains 900 to 1,000 million barrels of heavy crude, enough to maintain Ecuador’s oil production at current levels for another 10 years.

Petroamazonas, Ecuador’s national oil company, says that oil could begin flowing from the Yasuni oil fields by late 2016.