from Lago Agrio to Esmeraldas

Provinces of Sucumbíos, Napo, Pichincha, S. Dominico, Esmeraldas

The Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System runs from Petroecuador's Lago Agrio station just east of Nueva Loja (Sucumbíos province) to the Balao OCP Marine Terminal and Esmeraldas Refinery in the coastal city of Esmeraldas.
The pipeline traverses three natural regions of the country: Amazon, Sierra and Costa. It crosses the Andes mountain range near Virgen de Papallacta, where it reaches its maximum altitude of 4,064 meters

The state-owned oil pipeline SOTE spans 498 km (309 miles) and delivers crude from the Amazonas region across the Andes to the Balao Terminal and Esmeraldas Refinery on the Pacific coast for export.

This pipeline pumps an average of 340,165 barrels per day (bpd) from the Amazon oilfields to the Esmeraldas port.

SOTE pipeline's capacity over time:
- originally: 250,000 bpd
- 1985: 300,000 b/d (due to increased crude-oil production in the Oriente)
- 1992: 325,000 b/d (installation of additional pumping units in the existing pump stations)
- 2022: 360,000 b/d

•The pipeline traverses a geologically unstable landscape.
•The pipeline's route passes through 94 fault lines, six volcanoes, multiple waterways, and rain forests.
•Potential ecological problems which the pipeline might exacerbate soil erosion and landslides.

During 2021, Petroecuador was completing a series of small bypasses in an attempt to protect the pipeline from further river erosion

Petroecuador