Ecuadorean gov't, City Oriente cancel oil contract (U.S.-backed oil company)

[Judi Lynn]

Source: International Herald Tribune/Associated Press

Ecuadorean gov't, City Oriente cancel oil contract

The Associated Press
Thursday, July 31, 2008

QUITO, Ecuador: The Ecuadorean government said Wednesday that it has reached an agreement with U.S.-backed oil company City Oriente to end its operating contract.

Oil and Mines Minister Galo Chiriboga told a news conference that Ecuador will pay the company US$69 million and City Oriente will withdraw an arbitration suit contesting back taxes claimed by the government.

Chiriboga said Wednesday that the company will hand over its jungle oil wells to the government in April 2009. City Oriente is a Panama-based company backed by U.S. capital.

City Oriente pumps about 3,000 barrels a day in Ecuador — less than 1 percent of the country's daily output of around 500,000 barrels. City Oriente's contract was set to expire in 2021.

"This has been an open, frank process that has allowed us to show the country that agreements are possible, even to end contracts," Chiriboga said.



Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/30/business/LA-Ecuador-City-Oriente.php

[Peace Patriot]

1. Glad to read of the solid economic achievements of leftist governments in S/A.

It is projects like this that have put Rafael Correa, Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales and others on Exxon Mobil's hit list.

The issue is SOVEREIGNTY. Global corporate predators seek to smash the sovereignty of national governments--our own included--and destroy government power to deal with these massive, filthy rich, transnational 'floating countries' called "corporations," who have loyalty to no one--to make demands on them, to enforce laws, to insist on fairness and social benefit, on behalf of the people. The many new South American leftist governments are not only asserting their sovereignty, they are banding together and forming a South American "Common Market" to magnify their strength in their dealings with transnationals primarily of the U.S. and the EU. That makes them even more of a threat to bullies like Bush/Cheney and their backers. The psyops and plots against the strongest of these leaders--those named above--have been non-stop.