By IANS/EFE,
Quito : Ecuador exported 9.1 million barrels of oil in September, up 43 percent from the 6.3 million barrels exported in the previous month, state-owned oil company Petroecuador said.
Oil sales generated about $615 million last month, while the August figure was $444 million.
Ecuador exported more than 6.5 million barrels of Oriente-grade crude in September worth $442 million, while sales of Napo-grade crude totaled 2.7 million barrels, generating some $173 million in revenue.
Exports of Oriente medium-heavy, medium-sour crude totaled 5.7 million barrels in August, generating revenue of nearly $400 million, while sales of slightly more than 170,000 barrels of Napo heavy sour crude brought in about $45 million.
Oriente crude, which is of better quality, sold for an average of $68 per barrel last month, or just slightly less than the roughly $70 per barrel it fetched in August.
The price of Napo crude rose by approximately $1 to nearly $65 per barrel in September.
Ecuador earned more than $3.6 billion from sales of petroleum and petroleum derivatives in the first half of 2010, a figure that was up 80 percent from the same period last year, when oil sales totalled around $2 billion, Petroecuador said.
The surge in revenues was due to the rise in the price of oil on the international market and higher production at Petroecuador.