The assets of Petroecuador have a ‘provisional’ insurance

Ecuadornews:

The search for a new insurer for the oil company is delayed. The authorities decided to extend the services of state-owned Seguros Sucre.

It is one of the largest public companies in Ecuador but does not yet have definitive insurance. Petroecuador’s assets, operations and facilities have provisional assurance after new valuations and contests where there were no expected proposals.

At the end of 2018, the oil company presented a tender for the insurance of all its goods and services. For the contract, Petroecuador offered 34.4 million dollars and complied with a process before the National Service of Public Procurement (Sercop). Only in goods such as refineries, warehouses, oledducts and warehouses was it sought to secure more than 117 items valued at 6,283 million dollars.

There was born the first problem. Only Seguros La Unión submitted an offer that did not meet the parameters set by the Petroecuador authorities. According to the documentation, the offer of the private company to deliver an insurance policy “of all oil risk” required a payment greater than that offered by the state. There was no agreement and Petroecuador declared the process void.

It is the beginning of the second problem. The oil company did not call a new tender but decided to extend the services of the insurance provider in 2018: Seguros Sucre. The company has a public capital and has been questioned for “monopolizing” the State’s policies.

Petroecuador paid $ 8.6 million to Sucre for less than six months of extended insurance. It is striking that Seguros Sucre continues with the Petroecuador contract when it did not present an insurance proposal for this year. That is, without presenting an offer or participating in a contest, Sucre managed to win an interim agreement.

EXPRESO consulted Sucre, since December, why he did not make a proposal to reassure Petroecuador. To date, there is no response.

The contractor was also consulted. Petroecuador said that the delay in starting a new tender responds to the fact that “it is in the process of implementing IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards)”.

Complaints

Claim

According to former president Gustavo Noboa, in an interview with journalist Carlos Vera, the mechanism of insuring with “extended policy” is the new way of operating so that Seguros Sucre keeps -with prices that do not correspond to reality- the control of large policies .

Participation

In the Council of Citizen Participation and Transitory Social Control received a written complaint of irregularities in the insurance tender for the public company Petroecuador. The declaration of desert immobilized the research activities carried out by Julio César Trujillo and his team.

Actions

The National Public Procurement Service (Sercop) assured that the process initiated last year by Petroecuador did not prosper due to the lack of offers that meet the requirements. The authorities of the entity explained that the process, due to this situation, returned to zero. (I)

Source: https://www.expreso.ec/actualidad/bienes-petroecuador-seguro-segurossucre-MJ2913068