Brazil rejects possibility Petrobras to be expelled from Ecuador
7/10/2008 15:50
Brazil's Minister of Mines and Energy Edison Lobao said yesterday that he
did not believe the Brazilian oil and gas firm Petrobras would be expelled from
Ecuador.
Lobao said he didn't believe there would be any losses for Petrobras
in its operation in Ecuador while commenting on a weekend warning by Ecuadorian
President Rafael Correa.
Efforts are being made by Foreign Minister Celso
Amorim to help Petrobras settle the problem with the Ecuadorian side, Lobao
said.
Correa threatened to nationalize oil fields owned by Brazil's Petrobras
over delays to transfer an oil block to the state during his weekly media
address Saturday.
"I met with Petrobras and we reached a very clear
agreement, but they are taking too long to fulfill it. Either they fulfill my
demands or they leave Ecuador," President Correa said.
The company started
operating in Ecuador in 1986, and its output in Ecuador accounts for 0.5 percent
of the company's total.
This has been the second time in less than a month
that Ecuador threatens to expel a Brazilian company. On Sept. 23, Brazilian
construction company Odebrecht was expelled, and its directors, forbidden from
leaving Ecuador, were forced to seek protection in the Brazilian embassy in
Quito.
Correa accused the Brazilian company of refusing to pay for the costs
of the repairs in a hydroelectric plant it constructed which stopped working one
year after its operation.
After several days of negotiations, the company and
the Ecuadorian government signed an agreement in which Odebrecht agreed to pay
for the repairing of the power plant.
Xinhua
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