Friday, July 30th 2010
Ecuador will begin in August the contract talks with foreign oil companies operating in the country:
Ecuador will begin negotiating with oil majors in August new contracts to favor the state, Non-Renewable Resources Minister Wilson Pastor said on Thursday, setting the clock ticking for firms in the OPEC nation.
Friday, July 30th 2010
Ecuador is planning to show new draft contracts to oil companies operating in the country:
Ecuador’s government plans to submit to private oil companies on Friday the model contract that will be used to exchange current production-sharing deals for service contracts. Negotiations with each company will start in the second week of August, the country’s minister for non-renewable natural resources said Thursday.
Friday, July 30th 2010
Ecuador will decide on a contract with a subsidiary of a U.S. based oil company:
Ecuador will decide by November whether to continue the contract of Energy Development Corp., or EDC, a subsidiary of U.S.-based oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc. (NBL), the country’s minister for non-renewable natural resources told Dow Jones Newswires.
Wednesday, July 28th 2010
Government officials expect negotiations to be difficult:
OPEC-member Ecuador expects tough negotiations ahead with private oil companies that are being asked to sign new contracts aimed at increasing state control over the sector, a top official said on Tuesday.
Wednesday, July 28th 2010
New Ecuador law is in effect:
Oil companies operating in Ecuador will no longer hold a stake in the oil they produce but instead receive a set production fee under new rules put in place Tuesday by the government of leftist President Rafael Correa.
Wednesday, July 28th 2010
Report on Ecuador financial figures:
Ecuador’s central government posted a fiscal surplus of $902 million during the first quarter of 2010, compared with a deficit of $596 million in the same period of 2009, the Central Bank said Tuesday.
Tuesday, July 27th 2010
The renegotiating of oil contracts begins on Tuesday:
Ecuador’s nonrenewable natural resources minister, Wilson Pastor, said Monday that the process of renegotiating contracts with private-sector companies in the petroleum sector will start Tuesday.
Tuesday, July 27th 2010
More coverage of the Amazon conservation agreement:
Following four months of negotiations, the Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are expected to sign an agreement on August 3 that will create a trust fund to manage international contributions to the Yasuni – Ishpingo Tambococha Tiputini (ITT) initiative.
Monday, July 26th 2010
Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state-run oil company, spilled oil and is affecting local inhabitants:
State-owned Petroecuador estimated that it will take two and a half months to clean up a heavy diesel fuel spill that contaminated the Teaone River in the northern coastal province of Esmeraldas.
Monday, July 26th 2010
Perenco weighs its options following the termination of its contracts with Ecuador:
Anglo-French company Perenco Corp. is analyzing Ecuador’s decision to end its contracts in the Andean country, and is hoping a tribunal will order compensation.
Monday, July 26th 2010
Ecuador is implementing a law that will allow the government to nationalize private oil companies:
President Rafael Correa announced Saturday that he will enact a change to Ecuador’s hydrocarbons law allowing the government to nationalize oil fields if a private operator doesn’t comply with local laws.
Monday, July 26th 2010
The proposal to obtain international funds in lieu of developing Ecuador’s rainforests moves forward:
The Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Program are expected to sign an agreement on Aug. 3 creating a trust fund to manage international contributions to the Yasuni-ITT initiative.
Monday, July 26th 2010
Ecuador President Rafael Correa leaves open the possibility of another election:
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa left the door open on Sunday to dissolving the Andean nation’s legislature and calling for new general elections, about a year after the last poll.
Friday, July 23rd 2010
French oil company Perenco’s contract with Ecuador has been cancelled:
Ecuador’s Nonrenewable Natural Resources Minister, Wilson Pastor, has canceled the oil contracts of Anglo-French company Perenco Corp.
Friday, July 23rd 2010
A hydrocarbons law proposal is debated in Ecuador:
Ecuador’s Minister of Nonrenewable Natural Resources Wilson Pastor warned Thursday that suggested reforms to a proposed hydrocarbons law would prevent contract changes for “marginal” oil fields.
Thursday, July 22nd 2010
Ecuador President Correa’s party fails to pass monetary law reform:
Members of Ecuador President Rafael Correa’s party in the legislature failed to pass a controversial monetary reform bill Tuesday aimed at using Central Bank deposits to fund investment projects.
Tuesday, July 20th 2010
This article profiles some of the efforts Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa has made to consolidate his power:
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa twice won the country’s presidency after waging political war on various sectors, but the populist strategy may be coming back to haunt him as further confrontations with onetime supporters are seen undermining his strength in Congress.
Monday, July 19th 2010
News on Ecuador’s economy:
Ecuador’s economy is “in a recovery phase” and growth picked up in the second quarter as commercial lending increased and businesses boosted output and added workers, Economic Policy Minister Katiuska King said.
Friday, July 16th 2010
The Economist profiles Ecuador President Rafael Correa, and discusses the indigenous population’s opposition to current oil drilling on their land:
The combative Mr Correa has treated his former supporters little better than he does foreign bondholders. He has called Marlon Santi, the president of the indigenous umbrella group, “incompetent”, and referred to protests over potential oil exploration as “foolish”.
Friday, July 16th 2010
State-run oil company Petroecuador is receiving an upgrade at one of its refineries:
Ecuador on Wednesday started a $400 million upgrade program at state-led Petroecuador’s Esmeraldas refinery, government news agency ANDES reported.
Tuesday, September 7th 2010
An update by the San Francisco Chronicle on the Chevron Ecuador lawsuit: Mired in a $27 billion environmental lawsuit in Ecuador, Chevron Corp. has taken the unusual step of trying to subpoena the other side's lead lawyer, arguing that he has committed fraud upon the court. Chevron persuaded a U.S. federal judge last month to grant a subpoena of Steven Donziger, head of the legal team seeking to hold the company responsible for oil-field contamination in the Ecuadoran rain forest. Donziger's attorneys are trying to quash the subpoena. The move is the latest bare-knuckled legal tactic San Ramon's Chevron has pursued in the 17-year-old case. Since February, the oil company has been filing motions in courts throughout the United States, seeking to depose consultants who worked for Donziger and the plaintiffs' legal team. Chevron even won access to hours of unused footage from a documentary film about the lawsuit. Read More »Tuesday, September 7th 2010
Federal judge sides with Chevron: A federal judge has granted a bid by Chevron Corp. to seek more information from a company that assisted in assessing alleged environmental damage in Ecuador, ruling that the oil giant's request for discovery is urgently needed to aid in the defense of two of its longtime attorneys who are facing criminal charges. Read More »Thursday, September 2nd 2010
Shopfloor.org discusses Petroecuador's oil drilling and spills in the country: In this case, the government-owned operator is Petroecuador, which has continued to develop the Amazon region’s oil resources after ending its consortium with Texaco — later bought by Chevron — in 1992. Santacruz, who recently traveled to the Lago Agrio region in Ecuador, reports the reality ignored by the activists, U.S. trial lawyers and, too often, the U.S. media who report on the litigation: During my visit to the oil spills, I found some reforested sites, others being cleaned up, and just a few crude spills collected in pools. At one site, known as the “Presidential Well” after Correa gave a press conference there, I noticed that the pipelines were warm. Petroleum was being pumped, and the spill was recent — I threw a stone that sank instantly. I had no doubt: Petroecuador is currently operating there. So, how can Correa and environmentalists accuse Texaco of a “pollution 30 times greater than the Exxon-Mobil,” when the company left 20 years ago? Recent data reveal that state-owned Petroecuador has caused 1,415 crude spills between 2000 and 2008, an average of one incident every other day. But environmentalists in Ecuador do not care about Petroecuador and continue to point fingers at Chevron instead. Astonishingly, my country’s ecological disaster does not make the green campaigners blink. State-owned companies’ pollution is simply not on their radar screen. They seem to care not so much about my country’s indigenous people as they do about Chevron’s pockets. Read More »
Tuesday, September 7th 2010
China's investments in Ecuador have skyrocketed from $56 million to $5 billion in just the last year: China is ramping up its investment in Ecuador as it looks for opportunities in the South American nation, with bilateral deals this year totaling more than $5billion, an Ecuadorean minister said on Tuesday. Read More »Tuesday, September 7th 2010
Ecuador will sell oil to China, following the agreement to loan Ecuador $1 billion: Finance Minister Patricio Rivera said Friday that Ecuador will sell 36,000 barrels a day of petroleum to China over the next four years. Read More »Friday, September 3rd 2010
More on Ecuador President Rafael Correa's trip to Korea: Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa Delgado will visit Korea next week for talks with President Lee Myung-bak, the Korean presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. Read More »