	ecuador deputy minister seeks oil aid in venezuela ecuador s deputy energy minister fernando santos alvite arrived here last night for talks on further venezuelan assistance to his country s oil industry following last week s earthquake officials said ecuador was obliged to suspend  oil exports for an expected five months as a result of damage to miles of pipeline linking its jungle oil fields with the pacific port of balao oil normally accounts for pct of its exports fellow opec member venezuela has already agreed to lend ecuador five mln barrels of  to be repaid in kind after days to help meet its domestic consumption needs the officials could neither confirm nor deny reports that venezuela will temporarily produce ecuador s entire opec quota set at barrels per day for first half all options are open at this moment in the context of cooperation on oil production a venezuelan energy and mines ministry source said discussions are also under way to arrive at a formula to compensate ecuador for the loss in oil export revenue while the pipeline is repaired officials said santos alvite last night met venezuelan energy and mines minister arturo hernandez grisanti and will today hold talks at technical level officials said industry sources said that among the options are for venezuela to produce ecuador s entire quota or for venezuela and non opec mexico to share it and for the latter to supply ecuador s far eastern clients but the ministry source said that no decision has yet been reached on the matter and that an announcement would be made in due course santos alvite said earlier in quito that ecuador would have to import six to seven mln barrels of  oil to meet its needs until the line was repaired ecuador energy and mines minister javier espinosa teran said last night his country needs mln dlrs to repair the damage to the export pipeline caused by the earthquake reuter 
