Ecuador’s Jan-May Oil Exports Rise 100% On Year To $3.6 Billion

QUITO -(Dow Jones)- Ecuador’s crude oil export revenue totaled $3.6 billion for the January-May period, a 100% increase from $1.8 billion a year earlier, due to higher oil prices, the central bank reported Friday.

The average price of crude in the five month period jumped 99% to $71.44 per barrel from $35.90 a barrel in the 2009 period.

That translates into exports of 332,742 barrels a day between January and May from 335,417 barrels a day a year earlier.

According to the official data, of the total exported by the country, 11.29 million barrels, or 22%, were sold by private companies operating in Ecuador, bringing in revenue of about $801 million. The remainder was exported by state-run Petroecuador.

All figures have been rounded.

Source: Dow Jones

Ecuador Wary of Sharp Drop in Oil Investment

Ecuador’s government is concerned over a sharp drop in investment by private oil companies and fears that decline will continue in the coming years

QUITO – Ecuador’s non-renewable natural resources minister said Friday that the government is concerned over a sharp drop in investment by private oil companies and fears that decline will continue in the coming years.

Wilson Pastor said “oil investment has fallen from $772 million in 2006 to an estimated $490 million in 2010 and will fall, according to information they themselves (the private oil companies) have provided us, to $80 million in 2013.”

This is because the companies are not bringing in capital from abroad but only reinvesting a portion of the profits earned from their operations in Ecuador, he told the Ecuadorinmediato online newspaper.

US Special Envoy for Climate Change to Meet in Ecuador

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The US Department of State has announced that Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela and U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern will travel to Latin America, July 10-15, 2010, with stops in Santiago, Chile; Lima, Peru; and Quito, Ecuador.

They will be meeting with government officials and civil society stakeholders to discuss how to meet the pressing climate change and clean energy challenges that the US, Latin America and the world face today.

They will also be seeking opportunities to deepen bilateral and multilateral cooperation on initiatives that strengthen economic growth while cutting greenhouse gas emissions, programs to help the most vulnerable adapt to the severe effects of climate change, and how best to build on the progress made last year at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune

Correa offers to mediate Colombia conflict

By GONZALO SOLANO, Associated Press Writer Gonzalo Solano, Associated Press Writer – Fri Jun 25, 9:19 pm ET

OTAVALO, Ecuador – Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Friday that he would be happy to try to mediate an end to Colombia’s long-running conflict with leftist rebels.

He also said in an interview with The Associated Press that he’d be pleased to attend the Aug. 7 inauguration of Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos, though diplomatic ties have not been fully restored and he has not yet received a formal invitation.

Ecuador’s Correa: New Hydrocarbons Law Is Ready

By Mercedes Alvaro

Dow Jones Newswires

 QUITO -(Dow Jones)- Ecuador President Rafael Correa said over the weekend that a new hydrocarbons bill is ready and will be sent to the National Assembly.

The bill will allow the government to speed the shift from production contracts to service contracts for oil companies operating in Ecuador.

Kirchner to meet Correa in UNASUR visit to Ecuador

Lawmaker Néstor Kirchner is scheduled to meet Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa on Tuesday in Guayaquil as Secretary General of the UNASUR.

The visit is part of his decision to tour the region while meeting heads of state members of the South American forum.

After visiting Paraguay last week, Kirchner is scheduled to fly to Ecuador on Monday along with Deputy Chief of Staff Juan Manuel Abal Medina and the former president’s advisor on foreign affairs, Rafael Folonier.

Upon his arrival he will meet Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patiño and will later visit President Correa, who invited him to visit his country while he was visiting Argentina for the Bicentenary celebrations.

Source: Buenos Aires Aires Herald

The Cuban Five Are Political Prisoners, Says Correa

Quito, Jun 12 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa stressed on Saturday that it is a violation of human rights to keep the five Cuban anti terrorist fighters at the US prisons for preventing terrorist attacks organized in Miami.

  In its regular address to the population on Saturday, Correa expressed his hope that justice can be made and the five antiterrorist fighters can return to Cuba.

“Irma Schewerert, a Cuban and mother of one of the five Cuban heroes, Rene Gonzalez, imprisoned in the United States for over 11 years, accompanied us in the changing of the guard ceremony at the presidential palace”, said Correa.

“The five were accused of spying, and what they did was to avoid terrorist attacks planned by the Cuban community ultra right wing in Miami. Instead of congratulating them for their work, they had biased trials and sentenced to prison,” denounced the Ecuadorian president.

Rene Gonzalez, Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, and Fernando Gonzalez, are imprisoned in the United States since September 1998 for having infiltrated counter revolutionary groups in Florida.

Source: Prensa Latina

UNASUR Social Economic Forum Begins in Ecuador

Quito, Jun 11 (Prensa Latina) Making cash transfer programs into mechanisms of social inclusion for member countries of the Union of South American Nations is the main issue of the Forum taking place on Friday and Saturday in this capital.

  This event, promoted by Ecuador as pro tempore president of the UNASUR South American Council for Social Development, is taking place within the framework of the implementation of the council’s Biennial Action Plan.

International experts and delegates from the development ministries of member countries are attending the Forum to create a space for discussion among policymakers, academics and people interested in social economy.

Other topics on the agenda are the social protection and the financial inclusion, as well as the regional assessment of existing practical and conceptual advances, so that these are included in the design and decision-making of public policy actions.

The Forum begins on June 12 in Quito, with a view to constituting the South American Parliament as stipulated under article 17 of the UNASUR Constitutional Treaty.

Source: Prensa Latina

EC to Negotiate Trade Agreement in Ecuador

Quito, Jun 11 (Prensa Latina) A delegation of the European Commission (EC), led by Director for Latin America Gustavo Martin and Chief Negotiator Gaspar Frontini, are expected to visit Ecuador next week.

  The visitors will negotiate with national authorities the real possibility to reach a Trade Agreement for Development between Ecuador and the European Union (EU) and, in case they do, agree on the timetable for following rounds of negotiations, according to a note from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry.

The will also discuss relevant aspects of the Memorandum of Understanding about Political Dialogue and Cooperation.

The negotiation team concluded the global assessment of texts agreed by Colombia and Peru with the EU, and the Ecuadorian government is preparing the national stand to be presented to the European delegation.

The negotiations of the Ecuador-EU Multi-party Commercial Agreement were suspended in July 2009 because at the moment two basic conditions for the Ecuadorian participation in the process were not met.

They were the need to reach a multilateral agreement within the World Trade Organization about the Ecuador-EU banana dispute and the advance of the negotiation of an Understanding with the European Commission on Dialogue and Cooperation.

On December 15, 2009, following a process led by Ecuador, Latin American banana exporting countries and the EU concluded the Geneva Agreement on Trade in Bananas, including terms leading to put an end to 16 years of legal disputes and negotiations with Europe.

Source: Prensa Latina

Ecuador launches higher alert for Volcano eruption

June 11, 2010  

The mayor of Penipe locality, Fausto Chunata, said on Thursday that the city has issued an orange alert at the high risk zones due to the eruptive activities of Tungurahua Volcano, in Central Ecuador.

“The alert went higher from yellow to orange for taking more precise actions due to a possible eruption,” Chunata said.

The danger level increased in the small villages under the jurisdiction of Bilbao, Puela, El Altar and Guano, in Chimborazo province, affecting some 500 families.

“In the areas with orange alert live some 500 families, each one with three members average, which will be evacuated during the night,” the Emergencies Operation Center (COE) said.

The people have begun to be evacuated on Wednesday with the help of the rescue teams, policemen and soldiers, Chunata said.

“The children, elders and disable people cannot return to their houses as long as the current situation continues. The public forces keep control of all the accesses to allow the entrance of authorized people, who have to leave the place before 5:00 p.m. local time,” Chunata added.

The Tungurahua Volcano began its eruptive process in 1999 and reached its peak in 2006, when it killed six people in a village of Chimborazo.

This volcano is of 5,029 meters high over the sea level and has a high activity according to the Geophysics Institute (IG) in its last report.

Source:Xinhua