Ecuador’s Shock Presidential Election Result May Save Its Oil Industry

Ecuador’s beaten-down petroleum industry has been struggling to recover from a savage 2020 where pipeline failures, the COVID-19 pandemic, corruption scandals, and heightened political uncertainty sharply impacted operations. There were fears that the presidential elections would see poll favorite socialist economist Andres Arauz, the protégé of former President Rafael Correa, emerge victorious from the runoff held on Sunday. Polls, only last week, indicated that Arauz was the leading candidate going into the presidential runoff…