Ecuador, Argentina meet amid energy concerns

[Zorro]

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa met with his Argentine counterpart Cristina Fernandez during a trip to Buenos Aires on Thursday amid concerns that his new campaign against Chevron Corp. could harm relations between the two countries.

The agenda of the meeting was not announced, but it came two days after Correa attacked Chevron for alleged oil contamination by its subsidiary, Texaco, in the Ecuadorean Amazon between 1972 and 1990. Correa's charge follows Argentina's recent $1.5 billion deal to let the U.S. company develop one of the world's biggest natural gas reserves in the Southern American nation.

In July, Chevron partnered with Argentina's national oil company YPF in a plan to drill as many as 1,500 wells in the Vaca Muerta shale formation in northern Patagonia. Opponents of the project have expressed concerns about "fracking" gas excavation methods and possible environmental risk.

Chevron is making an initial $1.24 billion investment in the venture, which will start with 100 wells in the first phase.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ecuador-argentina-meet-amid-energy-concerns-231254011--finance.html

I suspect Rafael is putting pressure on Cristina to either forego the Chevron agreement, or let Chevron make the investment and then demand a judgment in Ecuador's favor against them in the Argentine courts.

[Socialistlemur]

1. I seriously doubt chevron would sign a deal without international arbitration.

Chevron has excellent lawyers. The deal with Argentina must have international arbitration. Since the argument between chevron and Ecuador is based on an Ecuadorean case, it's highly unlikely a court in Argentina would assume it has jurisdiction. Chevron on the other hand could go against YPF to recoup the money in the arbitration setting outside Argentina.

Everybody who knows the details knows the Ecuadorian case is flimsy. Therefore it's doubtful they will collect. And Argentina does need money to develop their shale oil resources. Very few companies have dared touch anything related to the Repsol nationalization, if Argenitna does go after Chevron they won't have many large companies willing to take a risk. As it is Chevron seems a bit foolish because the real threat is Repsol, which had its properties stolen.

[Judi Lynn]

2. Cuba, Ecuador pledge to enhance ties

Cuba, Ecuador pledge to enhance ties
Xinhua | 2013-9-21 18:51:13
By Agencies

Cuba and Ecuador have pledged to enhance bilateral relations, the official Granma newspaper reported Saturday.

In their talks on Friday, Cuban leader Raul Castro and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa praised the excellent state of bilateral ties and expressed their willingness to further the relationship, said the paper.

Correa said he also met former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and talked with him for more than two hours.

Correa arrived in the city of Santiago de Cuba, about 900 km southeast of Havana, for a visit to Cuba on Friday afternoon. In Santiago de Cuba he inspected construction work to build houses for the victims of Hurricane Sandy with the help of Ecuadorian military engineers.

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