--FILE--View of a gas station of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Xuchang, central Chinas Henan province, 30 April 2013. China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) has agreed to help finance the construction of a $12 billion refinery project in Ecuador, the South American countrys government said on Saturday. Ecuador has been in talks with Chinas biggest oil producer for a year about funding the 300, 000 barrel per day Pacifico project, which aims to start output in 2017 and is a joint venture between Ecuador and Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Weve worked to have a third partner ... and this third partner will be no one more and no one less than the biggest oil company in the world, Chinas CNPC, Ecuadorean Vice President Jorge Glas said in a televised weekly government report. The refinery is intended to cut domestic fuel costs for Ecuador, the smallest member of OPEC, which pumps about 500, 000 barrels of crude per day but has to import oil products because of its low refining capacity.
