First Venezuela, Now Ecuador: US Refiners Need A New Source Of Heavy Crude

U.S. refiners were forced to source their heavy crude from somewhere else after the United States sanctioned Venezuelan crude oil. Now, U.S. refiners may again be forced to resource crude oil as French bank Natixis stops funding the Ecuadorian oil trade. So far, six European banks have been called out for financing the trading of crude oil from Ecuador.

Concerns have been raised that the oil industry has encroached on indigenous territories in Ecuador, including in the Amazon—the world’s largest rainforest. Natixis, according to Reuters,…