Ecuador announced Aug. 17 it will renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies, seeking up to 90% of revenues for the state. The OPEC member has 33 foreign oil contracts, and the largest ones—with Spanish-Argentine YPF and Chile's Enap—will be the first to be reworked, Non-Renewable Resources Minister Wilson Pastor told a press conference. President Rafael Correa's government on July 26 signed a legal reform under which the state is 100% owner of crude oil resources. Under the new contracts, foreign firms will no longer own what they pump, but will have to purchase it from the state. The new contracts are to be ironed out by Jan. 23, 2011, Pastor said. Ecuador currently produces 472,000 barrels per day. (AFP, Aug. 17)

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