[NYTr] Energy Multinationals Can't Rip Off Ecuador Anymore: Correa

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Ecuadorean President Announces Changes

Quito, Nov 11 (Prensa Latina) Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said
on Saturday that contracts with mining companies will be renegotiated
and changes will be made in Petroecuador, because the country is not
developing as it needs.

"The companies do not pay royalties for mining concessions," Correa
said on his regular radio program on Saturday, broadcast from Santiago,
Chile, where he attended the Ibero-American Summit.

He pointed out that most mines are not working, so agreements will be
reached on "five or six projects that are already being exploited."

"Deep changes must be made. Reviewing all those mining concessions"
that do not contribute to the State, he stressed.

The president noted that the government would not allow anyone to rob
the national economy, because there are 4,000 contracts to exploit
mineral resources in Ecuador.

The Constituent Assembly will be the appropriate framework to approve a
new mining law that will establish how much the State will be paid for
allowing them to exploit underground resources, Correa stressed.

Regarding the state-owned company Petroecuador, he pointed out that
some changes will be made, because "I feel that they are not in a
hurry" to guarantee quality and to speed up the construction of a new
refinery.

He noted the country's needs to refine its own crude oil "to consume
our own byproducts and export the surplus byproducts with an added
value."

Correa said that the Esmeralda refinery is being remodeled to improve
efficiency, and a new oil-processing plant will be built.

The president called to work rapidly so that Ecuador can benefit from
high oil prices that will continue to increase for the next five or six
years, due to the current international situation.

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PL-12