QUITO, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador's Mines and Petroleum Minister Germanico Pinto urged the French oil company Perenco to resume production on Friday.

    "We have systematically and insistently told them to restart activities, which the company stopped on July 16," Pinto told the press.

    Perenco, which produces some 22,000 barrels of oil daily, stopped its production to protest against the embargo the government had set up to charge 327 million U.S. dollars for alleged taxes arrears.

    Petroamazonas, a subsidiary operator of the state-owned oil company Petroecuador, offered technical and economic aid to stop a reduction in the production of Perenco wells.

    Pinto said he was expecting a report from Petroecuador on the company's legal situation before deciding on the contract with the French oil company.

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