ECUADOR CRUDE OIL OUTPUT TO RESUME NEXT MONTH Ecuador is due to resume limited crude oil output on May 8 when a new 43 km pipeline to neighbouring Colombia should be finished, an energy ministry spokesman said. Oil output was halted on March 5 by an earthquake which damaged 50 km of the main pipeline linking jungle oilfields at Lago Agrio to the Ecuadorean port of Balao on the Pacific. About 13 km of the new link, capable of carrying some 50,000 barrels per day (bpd), has been built, he said. Ecuador pumped 245,000 to 250,000 bpd before the earthquake. The new link will connect Lago Agrio to Puerto Colon in Colombia, the starting point of Columbia's pipeline to the Pacific ocean port of Temuco. The government estimates it will take about four more months to repair the Lago Agrio to Balao pipeline and return output to normal levels, the spokesman said.