Protests that led the Brazilian state oil company to halt production in the Ecuadoran Amazon have ended, Ecuador's Energy Ministry announced March 30. The Ministry statement said losses from the strike totaled more than $40 million, or 840,000 barrels of crude.

Earlier that day, Ecuador's state oil company announced it could not guarantee it would fulfill oil contracts, three weeks after Petrobras halted production amid protests by residents in the area demanding infrastructure improvements such as paved roads. Petroecuador's statement said that it invoked "force majeure" after Petrobras froze production in the eastern Orellana province, adding that the halt caused a "drastic reduction" in national production. (AP, March 31)

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