Page 13 - LatAmOil Week 07 2022

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Judicial officials also said they decided against beaches and fishing grounds. Their complaints
allowing the companies to proceed in light of the drew support from residents of other coastal
absence of a strategic environmental assessment cities across Argentina, many of whom staged
that made provisions for measuring the long- similar protests on their own beaches.
term effects of exploration work. As a result, the YPF, Equinor and Shell began planning for
injunction is now set to remain in place until the the seismic study began after securing a permit
court issues a final ruling on the case. from the Argentinian government, under the
For their part, the oil companies have com- leadership of President Alberto Fernandez, in
mitted to full compliance with the court’s rul- November 2021.
ing, as well as the rules and regulations set by the Officials in Buenos Aires authorised the pro-
Argentinian government. ject after the partners pledged to adhere to the
The project has sparked a number of protests “highest international standards” with respect to
since the beginning of the year. In January, thou- workplace safety and environmental preserva-
sands of people took to the beaches in Mar del tion, and they have said they hoped the investors
Plata to protest against the planned seismic cam- will find natural gas in quantities large enough to
paign and voice their concerns about the risks reduce the country’s dependence on imported
that oil exploration and drilling posed to local fuel. ™

ECUADOR
China reportedly prepared to renegotiate

$4.6bn in oil-for-loans deals with Ecuador

CHINA’S government is prepared to renegotiate during the administration of Rafael Correa,
the terms of its debt agreements with Ecuador who served as president between 2007 and 2017
so as to break the link between payment and – had previously been kept secret.
crude oil sales, according to President Guill- Ecuador has signed at least 15 oil-for-loans
ermo Lasso. deals with the Chinese government since 2008.
In a broadcast interview after a state visit to Under those agreements, China pays in advance
Beijing, Lasso said he had discussed the matter for crude deliveries from Petroecuador, the
with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and national oil company (NOC), and Ecuador uses
other high-ranking officials. The Chinese side the proceeds of those shipments to cover its loan
has agreed to Ecuador’s request for a change in payments. The NOC and the other parties to the
the terms of the deals, which have a combined deal have never revealed how much crude China
value of $4.6bn, he stated. is receiving as a result of these arrangements. ™
Lasso did not reveal all of the changes that
Quito wanted to make to the loan agreements.
He did say, though, that Ecuadorean authori-
ties wanted to Beijing to reschedule upcoming
maturities and reduce interest rates, as well as
decoupling payments and oil sales.
He also explained that his government
believed the loan deals harmed Ecuador’s inter-
est in their current form because they offered
such significant benefits to the intermediary
companies involved in moving the crude to
China. “Many Ecuadorian and foreign interme-
diaries take advantage of China and Ecuador in
these agreements,” he said during the interview.
“We are not selling oil directly to China, which
was the intention of the contracts.”
Ecuador will not borrow any more funds
from China this year, he added.
The president went on to say that he intended
to make all confidential information about the
oil-backed loan deals with China public but did
not say when that might happen. The terms of
the agreements – most of which were signed Lasso (L) and Xi (R) met in Beijing on February 5 (Photo: FMPRC.gov.cn)

Week 07 17•February•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P13