Petroecuador February Oil Exports Rise 17% On Year To $896Mln

Petroecuador, Ecuador’s state oil company, reported oil-export revenues of $896 million in February, a 17% increase from the $764 million registered in February 2011, Petroecuador reported Tuesday.

In terms of volume, Petroecuador exported 8.61 million barrels of crude oil in February, down 6% from 9.15 million barrels registered one year before.

Exports of Oriente crude in February were 5.69 million barrels, while exports of Napo crude were 2.92 million barrels.

The average price of Oriente in February was $104.58 a barrel while the price of Napo crude was $103.30 a barrel.

Figures have been rounded.

-Dow Jones

PetroEcuador Appoints Carlos Pareja as New Head of Refining

PetroEcuador, the South American country’s state-owned oil company, named its former president Carlos Pareja the head of refining operations, four years after firing him for poor management.

Pareja, a chemical engineer who was the country’s vice minister of oil until his appointment, will replace Marcelo Robalino, the company said in an e-mailed statement today, citing Chief Executive Officer Marco Calvopina. The statement didn’t say why Robalino was stepping down.

Ecuador, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries’ smallest member, is reorganizing its operations after seeing production decline 2.7 percent to 504,000 barrels a day since President Rafael Correa took office in January 2007, according to the country’s central bank. PetroEcuador is spending $1.4 billion to repair its Esmeraldas and Shushufindi refineries to boost output and improve fuel quality.

Pareja was dismissed in 2007 amid protests that halted production at 47 oil wells in the country’s Amazon region and prompted Correa to declare the company in a state of emergency.

–Bloomberg

Ecuador’s highest court on Thursday upheld a criminal libel verdict favoring President Rafael Correa, sentencing three newspaper executives and a columnist to three years in prison each and ordering them to pay a total of $42 million in damages.

The defendants, joined by international press freedom and human rights groups, had called the case an attempt by Correa to bankrupt the country’s leading opposition newspaper, El Universo, and part of a concerted campaign to stifle free speech and silence critics.

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In Ecuador, site of the Chevron Ecuador trial, we see that two journalists have been sentenced to pay $1 million each for libeling socialist President Rafael Correa:

The pugnacious Correa has been sparring with local media ever since he took office in January 2007 promising a “citizens’ revolution” in the South American OPEC member.

He often accuses the media of spreading lies to undermine his government and has called them “the real opposition,” while news organizations say he is trying to censor critics.

A civil court judge’s sentence against Juan Carlos Calderon and Christian Zurita stems from their publication of “Big Brother”, a book alleging Correa was aware that his older brother, Fabricio Correa, was awarded public contracts.

In Ecuador, it is illegal for the president’s close relatives to sign such deals.

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Ecuador president, Rafael Correa, threatens to nationalize fruit exporters that don’t fall in line with his policy:

Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has threatened to nationalise Ecuadorian banana exporters that acquire fruit outside the official framework and fail to comply with the country’s official price.

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At the site of the Chevron Ecuador trial we see:

Ecuador exported 8.63 million barrels of crude oil in December 2011, up 17% from 7.38 million barrels a month earlier, the Central Bank said.

All the oil was exported by Ecuador’s state-owned companies.

Revenue from Ecuador’s crude oil exports totaled $909 million in December, up 10% from $826 million the month before.

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Another newspaper weighs in on freedom of speech issues in Ecuador, site of the Chevron Ecuador trial. The New York Times and The Washington Post also editorialized in recent weeks against President Rafael Correa’s actions:

An attack on freedom of the press anywhere is an attack on freedom everywhere.

Such an assault is under way in Ecuador, a nation ruled with a heavy hand by a lightweight dictator who seems to wish he were Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

The target: El Universo, a 90-year-old Guayaquil newspaper, one of the largest in Latin America and a leading voice for freedom and democracy in the region.

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BBC News discusses recent developments in Ecuador, site of the Chevron Ecuador trial, which various outlets such as The New York Times (An Assault on Democracy) and The Washington Post (Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s assault on media freedom) have editorialized against:

Rafael Correa has been Ecuador’s president since 2007 but it is probably fair to say he has never had as much international attention as in recent weeks.

In January, several major US newspapers took a swipe at him in separate editorials.

“President Rafael Correa of Ecuador is leading a relentless campaign against free speech,” said The New York Times.

The Washington Post said the president ought to be known for “the most comprehensive and ruthless assault on free media under way in the Western Hemisphere”.

According to various international rights organisations, 2011 was a bad year for freedom of speech in Ecuador, and 2012 does not bode well.

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