Wednesday, April 21st 2010
Foreign oil executives are making their way to Quito, Ecuador, to try to work out a compromise over oil production contracts with Ecuador’s left-leaning president, Rafael Correa. The small Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) member is pressuring foreign oil investors to change the terms of their contracts with the goal of bolstering the state’s authority over the oil sector.
Wednesday, April 21st 2010
Threats by Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa to nationalize oil operations are aimed at pressuring oil firms and if push comes to shove the leftist who defaulted on $3.2 billion in debt may follow through.
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Tuesday, April 20th 2010
Ecuador’s Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri resigned today, a Finance Ministry official said.
Tuesday, April 20th 2010
Despite the government’s announcement that it will expropriate oil fields of companies that don’t exchange their production contracts for services contracts, some private oil-company officials said they hope to reach agreements and continue to work in the Andean country.
Monday, April 19th 2010
Ecuador, following in the footsteps of its ally Venezuela, has threatened to expropriate the holdings of foreign oil companies unless they agree to hand over more oil revenue to the cash-strapped government.
Friday, April 16th 2010
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Saturday his government will submit legislation to facilitate the expropriation of private oil operations if companies refuse to sign on to new services-based contracts.
The government has been pushing to convert contracts that allow private oil operations to benefit directly from the oil they produce to contracts on which they would be paid a production fee and reimbursed for investment costs.
Wednesday, April 7th 2010
Twenty columnists and contributors to the Ecuadorean state newspaper El Telegrafo said Tuesday they will no longer write for the paper because of alleged censorship.
In a signed letter sent to media outlets, the writers said they were quitting to protest “acts of censorship and the violation of the rights of free expression and press freedom.”
In recent weeks, El Telegrafo’s director and sections editor were removed from their posts and the deputy director resigned amid a disagreement with management over the direction the newspaper was headed.
Wednesday, March 31st 2010
A journalist facing a 3-year prison sentence for defamation accused Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Tuesday of orchestrating his prosecution as a warning that critics of the government will be severely punished.
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Thursday, March 25th 2010
IT WAS long an island of tranquillity surrounded by countries racked by guerrillas and drug trafficking. But whereas violence has declined in Colombia and Peru, Ecuador has acquired a reputation as a new capital of financial crime. Last month the Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, declared that Ecuador has not shown “a clear high-level political commitment” to address its “strategic deficiencies” in fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorism. That put it on a list with the likes of North Korea, Iran and Turkmenistan.
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Friday, March 19th 2010
Ecuador has suspended negotiations with China for the financing of an almost $2 billion hydroelectric power plant, which would be the country’s largest, Finance Minister Maria Elsa Viteri said.
Friday, March 19th 2010
Foreign Relations Minister Ricardo Patino said the European Union still wishes to resume trade agreement negotiations with Ecuador
Monday, March 15th 2010
President Rafael Correa partially vetoed a proposed Citizen Participation Law and suggested a measure that would permit citizens to request accountability from the media once a year, similar to that of public enterprises, reportó El Tiempo reports.
For Correa, media are a public service and should be accountable to the population, El Universo adds.
Wednesday, March 10th 2010
Representatives from both countries signed an agreement for the construction of three hydroelectricity plants in Ecuador
Wednesday, March 10th 2010
Iran plans to build two power plants in Ecuador, First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi has been reported as saying.
“Both sides agreed to expand cooperation in all fields,” he said, on the sidelines of his meeting with Ecuadorian First Vice President Lenin Moreno in Tehran on Sunday, the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network reported.
Monday, March 8th 2010
President Rafael Correa said Saturday his administration has a “plan B” up its sleeve in the event the Yasuni-ITT initiative – a proposal by Ecuador to leave Amazon oil in the ground in exchange for international compensation – is unsuccessful.
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Monday, March 8th 2010
The Ecuadorian government has signed an agreement with South Korean firm SK E&C for basic engineering studies at the Refinery of the Pacific, a joint project with Venezuela.
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Monday, March 8th 2010
The Chinese government has asked Ecuador to push back a deadline for wrapping up a financing deal for what will be the Andean nation’s largest hydroelectric plant.
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Tuesday, March 2nd 2010
Ecuador could assume the operation of oil fields run by private companies if the firms do not sign new contracts with the state in April, Strategic Sectors Minister Galo Borja told Reuters today.
Tuesday, March 2nd 2010
The U.S. State Department recognized the Ecuadoran government’s efforts against drug-trafficking, but warned that the country remains vulnerable to organized crime
Saturday, February 27th 2010
Indigenous representatives and leaders issued a call for an “uprising” to protest the Ecuadorian government’s development policies and press demands for a pluri-national state.
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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 »