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Tuesday, 02 December, 2008, 03:10 GMT | more >>

Ecuador 'revising Repsol contracts'



By Upstream staff 

Photo by AFP


Ecuador is to revise Repsol YPF's operating contracts and is confident of reaching an agreement with the company, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said today.

"We're going to revise the oil contracts and, in fact, we've already revised Repsol's contracts," Reuters quoted Correa as saying. "We've encountered problems, but I think they can be overcome."

Correa has vowed to renegotiate foreign oil contracts to boost the country's oil income.

He also has pledged to suspend deals with oil companies for environmental damage or breach of contract.

Repsol extracts around 65,000 barrels of oil per day in the country.

The Spanish company was not available for comment.

Correa was speaking at a news conference after a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The Ecuadorean energy ministry has created a special commission to review foreign oil contracts. It is also looking at contracts held by Brazil's Petrobras, which pumps about 35,000 barrels of oil per day in Ecuador.

Petrobras has denied any wrongdoing and said it has not been contacted by the investigating commission.

Ecuador is also challenging a 2006 arbitration claim filed by Occidental Petroleum for termination of its contract after the government accused the US independent of illegally transferring part of an oil block.

Occidental has denied any wrongdoing and demanded return of its assets and $1 billion in damages.


Wednesday, 11 July, 2007, 21:51 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 12 July, 2007, 07:10 GMT

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