QUITO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Ecuador will soon introduce laws to eliminate funds holding around $1.3 billion in excess oil revenues and use the money to finance infrastructure and social projects, the economy minister told Reuters on Wednesday.
The government plans to eliminate three oil funds that are earmarked for specific spending and restricted from government control, said Ortiz. Some Wall Street analysts worry such move could erode the country's savings capacity and make it more vulnerable to external shocks such as a drop in oil prices.
"Oil resources should have never been taken out of the budget and what we are doing is backtracking those reforms and leaving it just as it was before 2002," Fausto Ortiz said in a telephone interview. "With those funds, we will also have less financing requirements."
Ortiz did not say if those funds could be used to swap foreign debt, buying back more expensive debt for cheaper paper to reduce the debt service burden.
He said the bill is being analyzed by President Rafael Correa and could be introduced later this month or in January. The funds will be part of the national budget and used to finance key energy and infrastructure projects, health and education, he added.
The legislation is expected to be easily passed by a powerful assembly rewriting the constitution and controlled by Correa's party. The assembly temporarily shut down Congress and took over its powers in November.
Correa, a U.S-trained former economy minister, has worried Wall Street with plans to introduce bills that will increase state control over the economy and hurt the country's finances.
Correa has pledged to prioritize social spending over foreign debt payments and boost state control over the economy of South America's No. 5 oil producer.
The leftist president, who is drafting bills to reform the tax and banking laws, has said he also wants billions of dollars in reserves held by the central bank to be invested in the local economy instead of being kept in banks abroad.
The three oil funds are the FAC, or savings and contingency fund, CEREPS, or special account to reactivate social development and production, and FEISEH, or energy and hydrocarbons investment fund.
A fourth fund named FEP, or oil stabilization fund, is unlikely to be eliminated, said Ortiz.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Ecuador throws down oil gauntlet
From BBC News
By Jane Monahan
Washington
When Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa drastically increased the state's share of oil revenues in October, and oil minister Galo Chiriboga also announced that contracts with foreign oil companies had to change, industry analysts said the country had gone too far.
After all, foreign firms currently account for about half of Ecuador's total crude production of more than 500,000 barrels a day (bpd).
And while Petroecuador, the state oil corporation, accounts for the rest, it continues to be plagued by mismanagement and debt, analysts say.
The proposed increase in the government's share of windfall oil profits - those obtained whenever world oil prices exceed those established in existing contracts - was also huge.
The tax went up from 50% of windfall oil profits to 99%.
That would net the government $830m a year more in revenues, assuming world oil prices stay at current levels.
The principal oil companies affected - Spain's Repsol, China's Andes Petroleum, Brazil's state company Petrobras, French-owned Perenco and US-owned City Oriente - were already unhappy.
They objected strongly when the state's share of windfall oil profits was increased for the first time, to 50%, in a law passed in 2006.
But President Correa, who has been in office since January, is coming from a position of strength.
He decreed the oil tax hike within hours of winning a landslide victory in a vote and more than 60% of the seats in a new national assembly, which has started rewriting the country's constitution and forging ahead with his radical agenda.
Poverty reduction
Mr Correa, a former finance minister who has a PhD in economics, also explained the move in his decree.
He said the government would spend the extra oil money on services, roads and electricity for the poor, which was wildly popular.
Ecuador is Latin America's fifth-biggest oil producer. But World Bank estimates show that some 56% of the country's 13.4 million people live in poverty.
That figure rises to more than 80% for indigenous Ecuadoreans, who are mainly small farmers in mountainous highlands.
But confronting the foreign oil companies is risky. Take the controversy over changing the oil contracts.
In announcing the change at a recent press conference, Mr Chiriboga said the companies could comply by reducing their levels of participation in existing production-sharing contracts with Petroecuador.
Otherwise, they could switch to new service contracts, where they earn a fixed fee for specific services such as prospecting and production, but the state owns all the oil once it is extracted from the ground.
Mr Chiriboga, whose ministry is now in talks with the oil companies over the latest oil tax increase and the new contracts, said his objective was to find a solution that offered both sides "a reasonable profit".
But Simon Pachano, a professor at the Latin American University of Social Sciences in Quito, Ecuador's capital, says that in either case, "there will be much less incentive for the companies to increase exploratory work and production, or to invest in machinery."
As a result, because Ecuador's oil industry accounts for 40% of the country's exports and more than a third of government revenues, there is a risk that the nation's economy may suffer, if investment and production in the oil sector declines.
Legal wrangles
There is also a risk of litigation, as shown by the US's City Oriente, the smallest of the principal oil firms in Ecuador with only a 3,000 bpd output.
It won a favourable ruling in November from the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes over the first oil tax increase approved last year.
And Antonio Brufau, chief executive of Repsol, the biggest oil multinational now in Ecuador, with a 65,000 bpd output, referred to Mr Correa's new oil tax hike at a meeting in Chile in November, saying: "This [measure] to us is one that does not allow us to operate within a reasonable corporate environment."
Complicating matters further, Mr Correa's repudiation of the current oil contracts is not just about foreign oil companies, but also the previous Ecuadorean governments, run by conservative political elites, that agreed to them.
"The contracts have not benefited Ecuador. The problem is also the previous governments. This is widely recognised, " Mr Pachano says.
Mr Correa is an ally of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez - and, like him, is not shy about using colourful rhetoric on occasions.
He maintains justice is on his side. Most of the existing oil contracts were agreed when international oil prices averaged $24 a barrel, before they started rising in 2003.
But, said Mr Correa at a press conference during a state visit to China in November, Ecuador was still receiving just $3 to $4 in taxes from oil sales, even though the price of crude has risen to about $90 a barrel.
"These are the extraordinary benefits that the investors haven't done anything specific to receive. The benefits should go to the owner of the resources," Mr Correa declared - in other words, the citizens of Ecuador.
By Jane Monahan
Washington
When Ecuador's left-wing President Rafael Correa drastically increased the state's share of oil revenues in October, and oil minister Galo Chiriboga also announced that contracts with foreign oil companies had to change, industry analysts said the country had gone too far.
After all, foreign firms currently account for about half of Ecuador's total crude production of more than 500,000 barrels a day (bpd).
And while Petroecuador, the state oil corporation, accounts for the rest, it continues to be plagued by mismanagement and debt, analysts say.
The proposed increase in the government's share of windfall oil profits - those obtained whenever world oil prices exceed those established in existing contracts - was also huge.
The tax went up from 50% of windfall oil profits to 99%.
That would net the government $830m a year more in revenues, assuming world oil prices stay at current levels.
The principal oil companies affected - Spain's Repsol, China's Andes Petroleum, Brazil's state company Petrobras, French-owned Perenco and US-owned City Oriente - were already unhappy.
They objected strongly when the state's share of windfall oil profits was increased for the first time, to 50%, in a law passed in 2006.
But President Correa, who has been in office since January, is coming from a position of strength.
He decreed the oil tax hike within hours of winning a landslide victory in a vote and more than 60% of the seats in a new national assembly, which has started rewriting the country's constitution and forging ahead with his radical agenda.
Poverty reduction
Mr Correa, a former finance minister who has a PhD in economics, also explained the move in his decree.
He said the government would spend the extra oil money on services, roads and electricity for the poor, which was wildly popular.
Ecuador is Latin America's fifth-biggest oil producer. But World Bank estimates show that some 56% of the country's 13.4 million people live in poverty.
That figure rises to more than 80% for indigenous Ecuadoreans, who are mainly small farmers in mountainous highlands.
But confronting the foreign oil companies is risky. Take the controversy over changing the oil contracts.
In announcing the change at a recent press conference, Mr Chiriboga said the companies could comply by reducing their levels of participation in existing production-sharing contracts with Petroecuador.
Otherwise, they could switch to new service contracts, where they earn a fixed fee for specific services such as prospecting and production, but the state owns all the oil once it is extracted from the ground.
Mr Chiriboga, whose ministry is now in talks with the oil companies over the latest oil tax increase and the new contracts, said his objective was to find a solution that offered both sides "a reasonable profit".
But Simon Pachano, a professor at the Latin American University of Social Sciences in Quito, Ecuador's capital, says that in either case, "there will be much less incentive for the companies to increase exploratory work and production, or to invest in machinery."
As a result, because Ecuador's oil industry accounts for 40% of the country's exports and more than a third of government revenues, there is a risk that the nation's economy may suffer, if investment and production in the oil sector declines.
Legal wrangles
There is also a risk of litigation, as shown by the US's City Oriente, the smallest of the principal oil firms in Ecuador with only a 3,000 bpd output.
It won a favourable ruling in November from the World Bank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes over the first oil tax increase approved last year.
And Antonio Brufau, chief executive of Repsol, the biggest oil multinational now in Ecuador, with a 65,000 bpd output, referred to Mr Correa's new oil tax hike at a meeting in Chile in November, saying: "This [measure] to us is one that does not allow us to operate within a reasonable corporate environment."
Complicating matters further, Mr Correa's repudiation of the current oil contracts is not just about foreign oil companies, but also the previous Ecuadorean governments, run by conservative political elites, that agreed to them.
"The contracts have not benefited Ecuador. The problem is also the previous governments. This is widely recognised, " Mr Pachano says.
Mr Correa is an ally of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez - and, like him, is not shy about using colourful rhetoric on occasions.
He maintains justice is on his side. Most of the existing oil contracts were agreed when international oil prices averaged $24 a barrel, before they started rising in 2003.
But, said Mr Correa at a press conference during a state visit to China in November, Ecuador was still receiving just $3 to $4 in taxes from oil sales, even though the price of crude has risen to about $90 a barrel.
"These are the extraordinary benefits that the investors haven't done anything specific to receive. The benefits should go to the owner of the resources," Mr Correa declared - in other words, the citizens of Ecuador.
Ecuador GDP to Expand Least Since 1999, Ortiz Says
By Stephan Kueffner
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador's economy will probably post its smallest growth in eight years in 2007 after disruptions in oil production caused output to tumble, Economy Minister Fausto Ortiz said.
Gross domestic product may grow less than 2.5 percent, Ortiz said at a news conference today in Quito. That would be the slowest expansion since Ecuador's $40.9 billion economy contracted 6.3 percent in 1999 as the country's currency collapsed, leading the government to adopt the U.S. dollar.
``The improvements we've been making in recovering oil output haven't allowed us to outweigh the drop in production,'' said Ortiz. ``That's dragging down gross domestic product growth.''
Growth won't meet the central bank's most recent estimate from August, when it said growth would slow 3.4 percent this year, down from 4.1 percent in 2006, as a result of political and management disruptions in the oil industry. From January through October, oil output fell six percent to 154.33 million barrels from 164.33 million barrels in the same period last year.
With private and public-sector oil output recovering, GDP growth next year will probably top the 4.2 percent rate estimated in the 2008 budget, he added.
``The fear we had regarding private sector production has faded,'' Ortiz said.
Amazon Fields
The previous administration stripped U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum of its concession, where that company produced some 100,000 barrels a day.
State oil company PetroEcuador, which inherited the fields, initially lacked the resources to manage them and only this month pushed daily output back to the levels reached by Occidental, Ortiz said.
Unrest in Ecuador's part of the Amazon basin, where it produces most of its oil, has also undermined output, and President Rafeal Correa on Nov. 29 decreed an emergency over much of that area as well as over PetroEcuador in a bid to avoid further attacks on the company.
Correa's 11-month old administration has now resolved most of the issues affecting the oil industry, though it had some start-up problems to solve, said Ortiz.
Ecuador, the smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, averaged oil output of 509,000 barrels of oil a day from January through October.
By the end of 2008, the government aims to push oil output to some 520,000 barrels a day.
Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador's economy will probably post its smallest growth in eight years in 2007 after disruptions in oil production caused output to tumble, Economy Minister Fausto Ortiz said.
Gross domestic product may grow less than 2.5 percent, Ortiz said at a news conference today in Quito. That would be the slowest expansion since Ecuador's $40.9 billion economy contracted 6.3 percent in 1999 as the country's currency collapsed, leading the government to adopt the U.S. dollar.
``The improvements we've been making in recovering oil output haven't allowed us to outweigh the drop in production,'' said Ortiz. ``That's dragging down gross domestic product growth.''
Growth won't meet the central bank's most recent estimate from August, when it said growth would slow 3.4 percent this year, down from 4.1 percent in 2006, as a result of political and management disruptions in the oil industry. From January through October, oil output fell six percent to 154.33 million barrels from 164.33 million barrels in the same period last year.
With private and public-sector oil output recovering, GDP growth next year will probably top the 4.2 percent rate estimated in the 2008 budget, he added.
``The fear we had regarding private sector production has faded,'' Ortiz said.
Amazon Fields
The previous administration stripped U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum of its concession, where that company produced some 100,000 barrels a day.
State oil company PetroEcuador, which inherited the fields, initially lacked the resources to manage them and only this month pushed daily output back to the levels reached by Occidental, Ortiz said.
Unrest in Ecuador's part of the Amazon basin, where it produces most of its oil, has also undermined output, and President Rafeal Correa on Nov. 29 decreed an emergency over much of that area as well as over PetroEcuador in a bid to avoid further attacks on the company.
Correa's 11-month old administration has now resolved most of the issues affecting the oil industry, though it had some start-up problems to solve, said Ortiz.
Ecuador, the smallest member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, averaged oil output of 509,000 barrels of oil a day from January through October.
By the end of 2008, the government aims to push oil output to some 520,000 barrels a day.
Ecuador Starts Oil Co. Negotiations Ecuador Starts Oil Co. Negotiations
Quito, Dec 11 (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian government starts Tuesday the renegotiation of contracts with five foreign oil companies that have investments in that Andean territory.
Talks will begin with China's Andes Petroleum, the US City Oriente, France's Perezco, Spain's Repsol, and Brazil's Petrobras, whose representatives accepted to negotiate with the State.
The executive proposes to change contracts of participation for provision of services, and the process will be in charge of five multidisciplinary teams that simultaneously negotiate with foreign entities.
Oil and Mining Minister Galo Chiriboga highlighted that this renegotiation, halted since 2003, is one of the aims of the country's President Rafael Correa, interested in increasing the State's presence and profits in the hydrocarbon sector.
These talks take place after the chief of State decreed oil companies must hand over 99 percent of extra incomes obtained from the high price of crude oil in the international market.
Chiriboga stated that the country seeks to negotiate and not confiscate, and also rejected to analyze the bylaw that establishes 99 percent of extra profits to the State.
Talks will begin with China's Andes Petroleum, the US City Oriente, France's Perezco, Spain's Repsol, and Brazil's Petrobras, whose representatives accepted to negotiate with the State.
The executive proposes to change contracts of participation for provision of services, and the process will be in charge of five multidisciplinary teams that simultaneously negotiate with foreign entities.
Oil and Mining Minister Galo Chiriboga highlighted that this renegotiation, halted since 2003, is one of the aims of the country's President Rafael Correa, interested in increasing the State's presence and profits in the hydrocarbon sector.
These talks take place after the chief of State decreed oil companies must hand over 99 percent of extra incomes obtained from the high price of crude oil in the international market.
Chiriboga stated that the country seeks to negotiate and not confiscate, and also rejected to analyze the bylaw that establishes 99 percent of extra profits to the State.
Ecuador: Thousands Back Correa, Assembly
Montecristi, Ecuador, Dec 10 (Prensa Latina) Over 3,000 people arrived in Ciudad Alfaro on Monday to support Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and reject a possible pardon to people detained in the wake of the violence in Orellana.
They were responding to Correa's call yesterday, urging Alianza Pais movement to march to Ciudad Alfaro, venue of the Constituent Assembly, to avoid the release of 27 people arrested for violent actions and sabotage.
Chanting "This has not been paid for, but Correa has earned it," the protesters said they will be carefully following all decisions adopted by the Constituent Assembly, which must not obstruct the work of government and much less assist those who are trying to destabilize the country.
We want assembly members to know that we support the head of State and his performance, said Raul Patino, a leader of the movement.
At the moment the Constituent Assembly is considering whether to discuss the Dayuma case in Orellana Province, where a state of emergency has been declared after several oil wells were taken by force.
Monday's session started in the afternoon in the presence of 114 representatives of several political organizations.
They were responding to Correa's call yesterday, urging Alianza Pais movement to march to Ciudad Alfaro, venue of the Constituent Assembly, to avoid the release of 27 people arrested for violent actions and sabotage.
Chanting "This has not been paid for, but Correa has earned it," the protesters said they will be carefully following all decisions adopted by the Constituent Assembly, which must not obstruct the work of government and much less assist those who are trying to destabilize the country.
We want assembly members to know that we support the head of State and his performance, said Raul Patino, a leader of the movement.
At the moment the Constituent Assembly is considering whether to discuss the Dayuma case in Orellana Province, where a state of emergency has been declared after several oil wells were taken by force.
Monday's session started in the afternoon in the presence of 114 representatives of several political organizations.
Ecuador, Bolivia Call for South American Currency
By Bill Faries
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia called for the creation of a single South American currency as a step toward lessening dependence on international financial institutions and the U.S.
Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales said a regional currency would help the nations of South America assert their financial independence. Correa and Morales spoke in Buenos Aires after helping inaugurate the Bank of the South, a development bank pushed for by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
``There's no technical reason why we couldn't have our own regional currency tomorrow,'' Correa said at the presidential palace, where heads of state from Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay were also gathered.
Correa, Morales and Chavez criticize what they call U.S.- backed economic policies they say failed to eradicate poverty and expand their economies in the 1980s and 1990s. Correa and Chavez said South American countries should invest their central bank reserves in the continent and stop ``financing'' the U.S.
Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- The presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia called for the creation of a single South American currency as a step toward lessening dependence on international financial institutions and the U.S.
Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Bolivia's Evo Morales said a regional currency would help the nations of South America assert their financial independence. Correa and Morales spoke in Buenos Aires after helping inaugurate the Bank of the South, a development bank pushed for by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
``There's no technical reason why we couldn't have our own regional currency tomorrow,'' Correa said at the presidential palace, where heads of state from Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Paraguay were also gathered.
Correa, Morales and Chavez criticize what they call U.S.- backed economic policies they say failed to eradicate poverty and expand their economies in the 1980s and 1990s. Correa and Chavez said South American countries should invest their central bank reserves in the continent and stop ``financing'' the U.S.
Ecuador ex-economy minister gets top political job
QUITO, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Sunday named his controversial former economy minister Ricardo Patino head of his political team and key government link to a powerful assembly rewriting the constitution.
Patino, who is considered part of Correa's inner circle, quit his economy ministry job in July after the opposition accused him of manipulating the debt markets. He then took the low-profile position of Coastal Affairs Minister.
During his six months as economy chief, Patino rattled Wall Street with his aggressive rhetoric, accusing creditors of cheating the country out of millions of dollars with overly expensive bonds.
His new post as Minister Coordinator of Politics puts Patino back into the spotlight. He is expected to work closely with a government-controlled assembly that earlier this month began a six-month debate on overhauling the constitution.
The assembly has closed down Congress and taken over its powers, clearing the way for Correa to boost state control over the Andean country's economy and implement radical reforms.
It is not clear yet how much policy-making power Patino will have in his new post, but his predecessor was considered an influential adviser to Correa.
Patino was accused by the opposition of manipulating the market while he was economy minister after a secret video showed him talking with foreign debt strategists about spooking the market to increase the price of debt insurance.
Patino has denied any wrong-doing and said he ordered the secret video to show how some Wall Street-insiders manipulate the market for their own benefit.
Patino, who is considered part of Correa's inner circle, quit his economy ministry job in July after the opposition accused him of manipulating the debt markets. He then took the low-profile position of Coastal Affairs Minister.
During his six months as economy chief, Patino rattled Wall Street with his aggressive rhetoric, accusing creditors of cheating the country out of millions of dollars with overly expensive bonds.
His new post as Minister Coordinator of Politics puts Patino back into the spotlight. He is expected to work closely with a government-controlled assembly that earlier this month began a six-month debate on overhauling the constitution.
The assembly has closed down Congress and taken over its powers, clearing the way for Correa to boost state control over the Andean country's economy and implement radical reforms.
It is not clear yet how much policy-making power Patino will have in his new post, but his predecessor was considered an influential adviser to Correa.
Patino was accused by the opposition of manipulating the market while he was economy minister after a secret video showed him talking with foreign debt strategists about spooking the market to increase the price of debt insurance.
Patino has denied any wrong-doing and said he ordered the secret video to show how some Wall Street-insiders manipulate the market for their own benefit.
Ecuadorian Assembly for New Elections
Quito, Dec 6 (Prensa Latina) The new Constitution written by the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly will call a referendum in 2008 and will include anticipated legislative elections, informed Fernando Cordero, deputy chief of the institution.
If the 20th Constitution to be written by the assembly members is approved by the citizenry in the consultation, new elections will be called, Cordero explained..
But, if it is rejected the 100 deputies will declare a recess and return to their posts, he expressed.
He pointed out "if the approbatory referendum of the new Constitution does not win, there will be a transitory period to call for new legislative elections, since these congresspersons in recess today will again be deputies."
In addition to closing Congress the assembly members ratified in their post the president of the country, Rafael Correa, his vice president Lenin Moreno and other elected authorities.
With the dismissal of Parliament the Constituent assumes the task of legislation and control. For this reason a legislative commission will be created next week.
The new Constitution will be written during the coming six months in the Eloy Alfaro City complex in Montecristi.
If the 20th Constitution to be written by the assembly members is approved by the citizenry in the consultation, new elections will be called, Cordero explained..
But, if it is rejected the 100 deputies will declare a recess and return to their posts, he expressed.
He pointed out "if the approbatory referendum of the new Constitution does not win, there will be a transitory period to call for new legislative elections, since these congresspersons in recess today will again be deputies."
In addition to closing Congress the assembly members ratified in their post the president of the country, Rafael Correa, his vice president Lenin Moreno and other elected authorities.
With the dismissal of Parliament the Constituent assumes the task of legislation and control. For this reason a legislative commission will be created next week.
The new Constitution will be written during the coming six months in the Eloy Alfaro City complex in Montecristi.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Ecuadorian government praises Venezuela
El Universal, 5 December, 2007
Recent overruling of the changes to the Constitution proposed by President Hugo Chávez in the ballot boxes show that the Venezuelan government is anything but totalitarian, said on Wednesday Ecuadorian Acting Minister of Governmental Affairs Fernando Bustamante.
The minister noted that Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa was not an imitator of his Venezuelan counterpart.
"We regret that a friend ruler suffered such a defeat. However, we are pleased to realize that the Venezuelan government proved to be anything but totalitarian; because it suffered a defeat, because its power proved to be less than widespread," he said, AP quoted.
The official told TV network Teleamazonas that it is clear that there is in Venezuela "a democracy; that all the accusations made in the sense that it had stopped being a democracy are unfounded."
Ecuador Assembly Tunes Bylaws
Montecristi, Ecuador (Prensa Latina) The Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly retakes Wednesday the analysis of the internal bylaws of that full powered institution, responsible for drawing up a new Constitution.
In its fourth session, assembly members renew debates with the aim of approving the articles of the document, which establishes the Constituent Assembly's rules of the game.
The Assembly ratified Tuesday night by 86 votes in favor of the new Constitution, to be drawn up in the coming six months, to be subdued to referendum, It also reiterated the supremacy of this body's decisive acts.
None of its decisions will be susceptible to control by any of the constituted powers, states one of the sanctioned articles.
Representatives from the minority's bloc, like Patriotic Society Party, Democratic Left and Democratic Network, complained of having little opportunity to be heard in the sessions.
However, the Assembly president and former minister Alberto Acosta said that everyone has the same opportunity of talking and making proposals.
Acosta stressed that the new Ecuadorian legislation will defend private property, provided it fulfills a social function, and the State will respect investors.
According to statutes, the Assembly has seven days to approve the bylaws, whose draft was presented Monday by 80 representatives of the Country Alliance Movement.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Oil Developers Permitted to Penetrate Pristine Upper Amazon
WASHINGTON, DC, December 4, 2007 (ENS) - One of the most intact and biodiverse rainforest regions on Earth, located in the Upper Amazon Basin on the Ecuadorian-Peruvian border, is now threatened by imminent oil development, warns a conservation organization based in Washington with close ties to its counterpart groups in South America.
In 2006, Petrobras came back with a roadless design utilizing helicopters to access the drilling platforms. This new roadless design was just given the green light from the Environment Ministry in the form of a new environmental license.
Known as the Napo Moist Forest ecosystem, this region is renowned for its record-breaking diversity of life and is so remote that it is home to several uncontacted indigenous groups living in voluntary isolation.
 |
A male crimson masked tanager, Ramphocelus nigrogularis, perches in the dense lowland flooded forest this species prefers. Not classed as imperiled, they inhabit parts of Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil. (Photo © Mark Gurney courtesySave America's Forests) |
Yet the governments of Ecuador and Peru have just given the green light for three major new oil projects in the area.
"Three different oil companies are set to begin operations in what is arguably the most biodiverse spot on Earth," said Dr. Matt Finer, an ecologist with the DC-based nonprofit organization Save America's Forests. Finer has spent years in the remote Amazon back country, and his research is ongoing.
The Peruvian government just approved the environmental impact studies for Block 67 belonging to the U.S. company Barrett Resources and Block 39, which belongs to the Spanish corporation Repsol.
Barrett Resources (Peru) LLC, is an independent upstream energy company based in Delaware that advised the state regulatory agency Perupetro a year ago of its plans to develop commercial Block 67, its 250,000-acre contract area located in the Maranon Basin of northeastern Peru.
The Ecuadorian government recently granted an environmental license for the Brazilian state oil company Petrobras to drill for oil in Block 31 located in Yasuní National Park, a roadless area sheltering some of the world's rarest species.
Classed as Vulnerable to extinction, this primate, the monk sake monkey, Pithecia monachus, lives in the upper Amazon basin of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. (Photo by Reserva Communal Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo courtesy Rainforest Conservation Fund) |
All three blocks are located within the core of the Napo Moist Forest.
In addition, the Peruvian government has just signed eight more contracts with multinational oil companies.
Finer calls the drive by the Peruvian government to lease out oil blocks throughout its large portion of the Amazon "relentless."
Analysis by Save America's Forests shows there are now 50 active blocks under contract with multinational companies in the Peruvian Amazon, and at least 13 more are on the way.
"Around 73 percent of the Peruvian Amazon, an area the size of the states of California and Maine combined, is now or soon will be in the hands of oil companies," warns Finer. "That's up from just 13 percent in 2004."
In addition to concerns about the region's extraordinary biodiversity, these new projects pose a major threat to Peru's vulnerable uncontacted peoples.
Indigenous, environmental and human rights groups have been protesting for months that the projects in Blocks 67 and 39 overlap territories of several groups in voluntary isolation.
AIDESEP, the association that represents the indigenous groups of the Peruvian Amazon, has requested that the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, with headquarters in Washington, DC, intervene in the matter.
Both Barrett and Repsol first plan on conducting massive seismic campaigns in this sensitive area, followed by the construction of production wells in the former and exploration wells in the latter.
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The coati, Nasua nasua, ranges from Colombia and Venezuela to northern Argentina. The species is threatened by roadbuilding, habitat encroachment and hunting. (Photo © Finding Species Inc. courtesySave America's Forests) |
Large quantities of heavy crude oil are known to exist under both blocks.
Further, of the eight new blocks with fresh contracts, half overlap territories of peoples in voluntary isolation.
"The lives of peoples in voluntary isolation are in grave danger with these signed contracts," warned AIDESEP President Alberto Pizango.
Of these four highly controversial blocks, three now belong to the Canadian company Pacific Stratus Energy, and the other belongs to the American company Occidental.
This wave of controversial oil projects in the Peruvian Amazon comes at a moment when that government has won a new free trade agreement with the United States. The U.S. Senate today approved the free trade agreement with Peru with strong bipartisan support.
The free trade agreement takes the environment into consideration said President George W. Bush. "Today's action by the Senate also marks the approval of the first free trade agreement that fulfills the May 10 bipartisan trade agreement with Congress by incorporating enforceable labor and environmental standards."
In Ecuador, environmental groups have been battling against the Petrobras project in Yasuni National Park for four years. In 2005, the Ecuadorian Environment Ministry prevented the company from building an access road into park
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Harpy eagles, Harpia harpyja, are in danger of becoming extinct due to habitat fragmentation, habitat destruction, and hunting. The proposed oil road into Yasuní National Park would fragment their habitat. (Photo © Ricardo Kuehn courtesy Save America's Forests) |
The only bright spot of the region, says Finer, is the innovative Ecuadorian initiative to leave the country's largest untapped oil reserves, known as Ishpingo-Tiputini-Tambococha, ITT, permanently underground in exchange for compensation from the international community.
The oil fields are located underneath Yasuní National Park.
The aim of the proposal is to provide a creative solution for the threat posed by the extraction of Amazonian crude oil, and contribute to preserving biodiversity, reducing carbon dioxide emissions that would contribute to global climate change, and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples.
Experts just completed a six-day workshop in Quito where they analyzed the government's ITT initiative, concluding the proposal is viable, of global significance given the ecosystem services provided by Yasuní National Park, and potentially precedent setting for other sensitive areas containing fossil fuel resources.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has given the international community one year, which expires in June 2008, to offer a compensation package of $350 million per year for 10 years if Ecuador does not exploit the oil resource. This equals half of the income the country would obtain by extracting ITT's crude oil.
In January, the Ecuadorian government delimited a 758,000 hectare zone off-limits to oil activities, known as the Zona Intangible" in the most remote part of the Ecuadorian Napo Moist Forest.
The Rio Napo region is situated at the western extreme of Amazonia where it hosts extraordinarily rich tropical moist forests. The ecoregion covers the northwestern portion of Peru, the Amazon region of Ecuador and the southwestern corner of Colombia's Amazon.
The international conservation organization WWF says this ecoregion has "some most species-rich forests in the world. For example, below 300 meter elevation there are 138 orchid species that have been identified in Ecuador alone.
"Much of this ecoregion is not well known by scientists," says WWF, "possibly holding species currently undiscovered with the possibility of increasing worldwide biodiversity."
View photos of the wealth of animals in the Upper Amazon at Save America's Forests Yasuni biodiversity site.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.
Ecuador Assembly Defines Labors
Montecristi, Ecuador, Dec 4 (Prensa Latina) The bylaws of the Ecuadorian Constituent Assembly, being analyzed in this city Tuesday, define the work of members and establish rules and mechanisms to approve laws and resolutions.
The 75-article document, whose first point was approved Monday night, stresses that the Constituent Assembly, as a full powered institution, represents popular sovereignty of the Ecuadorian people.
The text ratifies that the official venue of the Assembly is the city of Montecristi, although it could session exceptionally in any other place, if the Directive Committee or most of delegates determine.
This first article had support of 90 assembly members from a total of 121 attending the plenary session of the Ciudad Eloy Alfaro complex of this city.
It states that the Assembly is made up of the directive commission, 10 constituent tables, auxiliary groups and other bodies determined by the plenary session.
Alberto Acosta, president of that full powered institution, stated that such working commissions will be comprised of eight assembly members from the Country Alliance Movement, the group with 80 seats, and the rest for minority parties.
It is expected that the approval of this rule take at least one week, due to the quantity of articles and the extension of speeches.
Ecuador Doubts New Constitution Will Bring Change
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) Dec 4, 2007 - Many people in Ecuador are skeptical on the effect a new national Constitution will have on their country, according to a poll by Cedatos/Gallup. 44 per cent of respondents think the country’s situation will remain the same after a new charter is written and implemented.
An additional 33 per cent of respondents think the country will be better off with a new Constitution, while 19 per cent expect Ecuador’s situation to worsen.
Rafael Correa, a former finance minister, ran for president as an independent leftist under the Alliance Country (AP) banner. In November 2006, Correa defeated Álvaro Noboa of the conservative Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) in a run-off with 56.69 per cent of the vote. He officially took over as Ecuador’s head of state in January and vowed to change the country’s Constitution. Correa’s party nominated no candidates to the National Congress.
In April, Ecuadorian citizens participated in a referendum to enact a Constituent Assembly. The president’s proposal was backed by 82 per cent of all voters. An election to choose the assembly’s 130 members took place on Sept. 30. Correa’s supporters—running under the Movement Country (MP) banner—secured 69 per cent of the vote and 80 seats, enough to enact changes without seeking compromises with political opponents.
On Nov. 28, Correa warned assembly members to take their duty seriously, saying, "It is now or never. If we don’t manage to change the country radically in a peaceful manner, next time people will want to change it with violence because they will be fed up."
On Nov. 29, Ecuador’s Constituent Assembly officially began its work, and suspended the National Congress. The ad-hoc legislative body has six months to finish a draft. The proposed Constitution must be ratified in a nationwide referendum. The Constituent Assembly is expected to discuss a wide variety of topics, including the possibility of consecutive presidential re-election, as well as new oil and mining regulations.
Polling Data
Do you think Ecuador will be better off, worse off, or stay the same with the new constitution?
| Better off | 33% |
| Worse off | 19% |
| Stay the same | 44% |
| No opinion | 4% |
Source: Cedatos/Gallup
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 1,286 Ecuadorian adults in 10 cities, conducted from Nov. 20 to Nov. 22, 2007. Margin of error is 5 per cent.
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Ecuador's Correa Deepens Navy's Control of State Oil Company
By Stephan Kueffner
Dec. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Ecuador appointed Navy officers to lead the state-owned oil company's three biggest divisions, deepening the armed forces' control of PetroEcuador.
Patricio Goyes will run the production unit, Carlos Albuja will head refining, and Marco Salinas will oversee sales of oil and other fuels, the company said today in an e-mailed statement.
The personnel moves come after President Rafael Correa last week named a Navy admiral to run the company, which produces about half of the Andean country's roughly 500,000 barrels in daily output. He handed control to the military after a week of protests in the Amazon region shut some output.
Engineers have repaired most well heads and power generators damaged during the demonstrations, restoring output to near previous levels. Residents of the oil-rich region were demanding jobs, improvements to infrastructure and environmental cleanup.
``The intervention of troops and police allowed the mobilization of inspection and maintenance crews,'' PetroEcuador said today.
Goyes was previously an executive vice president at PetroEcuador. Albuja and Salinas studied business administration while pursuing their military careers, today's statement said.
Correa blamed the previous management, led by Carlos Pareja, for inefficiencies at the company and for allowing the protests to cut production in the area as much as 20 percent.
Output in the affected region reached 174,289 barrels today and will rise above 175,000 soon, the company added.
Ecuador: Keeping Up With Hugo
The lack of investment is making Ecuador one of the slowest growing countries in Latin America.
BY WALTER T. MOLANO
Latin Business Chronicle, 3 December, 2007
Not to be left behind by his Venezuelan ally, Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa is moving ahead with a new constitution.
In September, President Correa and his Alianza Pais (AP) party secured a majority in the new constitutional assembly. Having cobbled together a grassroots movement to combat the traditional political parties and entrenched interest groups, President Correa is plowing ahead with changes that promise to overhaul the nation’s institutions. The president is vowing to implement reasonable reforms, such as the separation of powers and an independent judicial system, but he is also pushing for measures that will give him more control over the economy.
SOCIALISM AND ENERGY CONTROL
Like President Chavez, President Correa is pushing the so-called Socialism XXI agenda by advocating direct control of the energy sector, better distribution of wealth and the ability to nationalize private property. As was the case in Venezuela, the new initiatives are scaring the private sector and producing a decline in fixed investment. Although the new measures will allow the Ecuadorian president to consolidate his powerbase, it could also lead to a deterioration of the country’s capital stock.
Unlike Venezuela, Ecuador is not booming. The Ecuadorian Central Bank recently revised its 2007 GDP growth forecast to 3.4 percent y/y from 4.1 percent y/y, and some local economists believe that final number could be closer to 2 percent y/y. Fixed investment fell 2.3 percent y/y during the second quarter, marking the second largest decline since the 1999 default. The nationalization of the oil sector is increasing government revenues, allowing the public sector to expand expenditures. Government revenues improved 28 percent y/y to $8.69 billion in 2007, or 20 percent of GDP, and outlays rose by 30 percent y/y to $8.88 billion. However, total oil production is declining as investment evaporates. The increases in government spending and social assistance programs boosted consumption, thus offsetting the decline in investment. This allowed Ecuador to post a modest expansion.
SLOW GROWTH
Nevertheless, the lack of investment will make Ecuador one of the slowest growing countries in Latin America. Fortunately, soaring oil prices left the central bank with $2.5 billion in international reserves, a massive windfall for a such a small country. The government hopes to use the resources to improve investment and social programs. However, the increase in consumption will push up the import bill, and it may leave Ecuador with a current account shortfall. Likewise, the increases in public expenditures will leave the government with a gap of 0.4 percent of GDP in 2007.
The improvement in external conditions allowed Fitch to revise Ecuador’s sovereign debt outlook to neutral from negative, but the overall rating remained the same. President Correa also softened his rhetoric, saying that Ecuador would continue to service its debt as long as it had the resources to do so, which is the case for every country on the planet. In sum, President Correa’s initiatives are strengthening his powerbase and ensuring that he will remain in office for the foreseeable future. As was the case with President Chavez’s Bolivarian revolution, President Correa’s initiatives are boosting consumption.
NOT VENEZUELA
However, the measures are disincentives for investment, resulting in a gradual depletion of the country’s capital stock. The erosion of the capital stock forces a country to rely more on imports and weakens the external accounts. Given the huge size of Venezuela’s oil sector, it can sustain a simultaneous erosion of the capital stock and an increase in imports for a moderate amount of time. However, Ecuador’s oil production is much smaller and in worse shape. Therefore, Ecuador could get into trouble relatively quick.
Although President Correa may be trying to keep up with Venezuela, it may not have the resources to implement a similar program.
Walter Molano is head of research at BCP Securities.
Ecuador Assembly Starts Sessions
Montecristi, Ecuador, Dec 3 (Prensa Latina) The National Constituent Assembly in Ecuador starts labors Monday as a full powered institution.
Alberto Acosta, president of the Constituent Assembly, stated Sunday that the country will determine the assembly members' working rules and did not discard the possibility of also adopting new resolutions.
The bylaws must be drawn up and approved in about seven days, because so far the behavior of 130 members from that body is controlled by a temporary set of guidelines instated during Thursday's first session.
The Country Alliance Movement, with 80 seats in the Constituent Assembly, has a working rules draft, to be presented by the minority.
After approving those guidelines, the Assembly, whose mission is to draw up a new constitution and reform the State's institutions, will create the 10 working commissions.
This concern in constituent tables with 13 members each, includes Development, Fundamental Rights, Territorial Order, Work and Production, and a Legislative Model.
In Thursday's first session, the full powered Assembly ratified President Rafael Correa in his post and suspended the National Congress for an indefinite period.
Petroecuador controls oil protest, output rises
QUITO, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Petroecuador has controlled a violent protest in an Amazon jungle province that had slashed the state oil firm's daily output by 20 percent earlier last week, a company spokesman said Monday.
Petroecuador's oil production was up near normal levels on Sunday at 172,404 barrels per day, recovering from the demonstrations by villagers of the province of Orellana who demanded more state funding for infrastructure projects.
"The military has provided security for our installations, and operations are returning to normal," said Petroecuador's spokesman Fausto Mejia.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa last week declared the province under state of emergency to quell the protest, banning public gatherings and setting curfews.
Correa also removed Petroecuador's chief Carlos Pareja and named Navy officer Fernando Zurita as the company's new head to battle the demonstration that had blocked roads to key oil fields.
Petroecuador top officials discarded attacks to the country's state oil pipeline SOTE after a local television reported bomb blasts near the key line.
Ecuador, South America's fifth largest oil producer, repeatedly suffers from demonstrations that curtail output in the poor Amazon region.Ecuador to push tax overhaul bill, rich to pay more
QUITO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday said he would introduce a proposal next week to overhaul the tax laws and force the rich to pay more duties.
"In the next few days we will send the assembly a tax reform bill ... a reform to make sure those who have more pay more, tax luxury goods and impose duties on financial speculation," Correa said during his weekly radio address.
The president will send his proposal to an assembly controlled by his political party that took over legislative powers this week and closed down Congress, increasing the influence of the leftist president, who wants to extend state control over the country's economy.
In the address, Correa did not specify what he meant by financial speculation. But officials have said the government is drafting a bill to tax foreign money transfers in an effort to halt financial speculation and generate incentives for private funds to be invested in the poor Andean nation.
Correa did not say if the bill would lower the key value-added tax to 10 percent from 12 percent, as he had promised during his presidential campaign last year.
The president's tax proposals worry Wall Street analysts, who say deep reforms could scare off foreign investment and hurt Ecuador's ability to repay foreign debt.
Correa also said he removed Mauricio Davalos from his Cabinet. Davalos was considered one of the most pragmatic members of Correa's team, but the former businessman lacked the authority to change economic policy.
Ecuador to allow open pit mining if benefits seen
QUITO, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday the government would allow open pit mining and bear its environmental impact if it generated enough revenues for the Andean nation.
"In principle we want to avoid it, but if there are more than $100 billion in revenues we will have to allow open pit mining," Correa said in his weekly radio address. "I'm talking about a real example, I'm talking about the mines of Ecuacorriente in Zamora Chinchipe."
The leftist president said the country's lush precious metal potential could help the government finance needed social projects for the poor.
Canada's Corriente Resources is waiting on the government to approve an environmental impact assessment amendment to start work at its Mirador mine in Zamora Chinchipe province, a company executive said.
Last year, Ecuador suspended the start of work at the Mirador copper-gold project due to clashes between communities in favor and against mining.
Correa has promised sweeping reforms to the country's nascent mining sector to establish new contracts and royalties for companies exploring for gold and copper.
Alberto Acosta, the head of the assembly rewriting the constitution and close ally to Correa, has repeatedly said a new charter will ban open pit mining to safeguard the country's environment.
The assembly, which last week closed down Congress and took over its powers, is expected to decide on a series of reforms to the mining law to increase state participation in the industry.
Some other firms exploring in Ecuador include Aurelian Resources and Iamgold Corporation.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Swedish Construction as Sexism in Ecuador
| Written by Hanna Dahlstrom | |
| From UpsideDownWorld, Wednesday, 21 November 2007 | |
| On the road between the two oil towns Lago Agrio and Coca the brothels are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The women along the road are waiting for the oil workers. Many of them come from the Ecuadorian coastal region or are refugees from the conflict-ridden Colombia. Oil workers and Child Prostitution Swedish construction company Skanska states the company “generates employment” when it actually deprives the local population the possibility to hunt, fish, and cultivate crops on its own terms. The one employment that oil exploitation actually has contributed to is prostitution, because in the oil region of Ecuador women are the most exposed and their lives the most commercialized and exploited. Skanska, with the operational responsibility of 5,000 oil wells in Latin America (1), is raping the earth as well as the women of the region.
According to a study by CONAMU (Consejo Nacional de las Mujeres – National Women’s Council), the UN Children’s Fund, and Sucumbios’ provincial church, the bars and discotheques of the oil town Lago Agrio are actually brothels frequented by the oil workers from Ecuador and other countries. The same report confirms that girls aged 12 to 16 work as prostitutes under slave-like conditions 17 hours a day.  Brothel along an oil road in Orellana, Ecuador Swedish Skanska and sexism The contact Agneta Enström and I have had with the Skanska in Ecuador confirms the context of sexism in which Skanska operates and where prostitution is an every day feature. At the company’s administrative base a few kilometers outside of Coca, the kitchen staff give ”massages,” according to one Skanska manager. One of Skanska’s employees, a geologist by profession, wants to let people know how Skanska operates. He describes observing another Skanska manager, Oswaldo Contreras, yelling obscenities at women, including an indigenous woman carrying her child, who he drove past while on his way out to the oil field to work. At Bermejo, the Skanska base close to the Colombian border, the companies’ employees’ complain about how difficult it is to sleep at night due to the noise from pornographic movies. Naturally, Skanska’s male personnel visit the bars of Coca every week and some managers even occasionally reside at the luxury hotel Auca in Coca.
Militarized oil fields and institutionalized prostitution Oil companies like Texaco and Shell arrived in the Amazon region of Ecuador in the 1950s, and with the help of the military they stole indigenous lands. The region is now constantly militarized and the military has repeatedly been deployed against the local population during demonstrations. Women are particularly affected by the militarization since the presence of oil workers and military leads to prostitution, rape, and thus higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis, HIV and hepatitis C. The role of the military in the oil state of Ecuador is clear – it is under direct order of the oil companies. The local population is forced to pass the oil companies’ military check points in their own villages, and outsiders must seek permission from the companies to visit the areas, and must state their relation to the company while travelling. In the Ecuadorian oil field called ”block 16” (in company language) where Skanska works for Spanish Repsol, the military is directly under the command of Repsol through a contract valued at more than 1 million USD. There, the military’s principal task, according to the aforementioned contract, is to prevent “intrusion by subversive elements into the areas of operation,” which is conveniently defined to apply to not only block 16 but to the country’s entire Amazonian region. In other words, the military personnel are mercenaries of Skanska and its clients and the military presence is constant. In addition, Skanska also employs its own security guards. Lawyer Bolivar Beltran from the Fundación Lianas in Ecuador has studied the contracts between the oil companies and the mlitary confirms these illegalities: Prostitution is further institutionalized in the Ecuadorian military since all military personnel receive a ticket to buy sex from one of the military’s own sex workers. The women mainly come from the coast to live on the military base while they work there. Each month, an obligatory five dollars is deducted for prostitution from each military’s $100 salary. The militarization of indigenous territory has also led to the military raping local women. “Around the military base kichwa girls become pregnant from the military” says Manuel Shiguango who himself is of the indigenous nationality kichwa and previously worked at the military base 49 Capitan Chiriboga in Montalvo. He now works with the indigenous federation CONAIE, as a youth leader of the indigenous peoples in the Amazonian province Napo, which is protesting against this oppression. Women protest against oil
The Waorani women refused to compromise with the companies. They protested against Brazilian Petrobras and Swedish Skanska’s illegal intrusion in their territory, and succeeded in stopping the thieves this time, as the Ecuadorian state withdrew their permit due to bribery scandals and insufficient environmental impact studies. Their territory and Ecuador’s largest national park is once again under threat as Skanska and Petrobras assert that it is possible to exploit for oil without damaging the sensitive rain forest and its inhabitants.(3) Naturally the oil companies are the first to talk about sustainability as the hunt for nonrenewable resources become increasingly bloody. Many are those who join the ranks of the oil companies’ preaching of high tech solutions to prevent an environmental disaster, and a very famous example is Sweden’s honorary consul Galo Abril, former minister of oil in Ecuador. His own position is at the height of ecological ignorance and arrogance and was manifested in an interview with Agneta Enström and I in which he said that there is no problem in building roads to reach oil in the rain forest as Skanska has done, if you just “let the treetops touch so that the monkeys can jump across.” The Waorani women’s current representative Manuela Omari Ima protested in an open letter to Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa: The Waorani’s preparedeness to defend its culture and territory has earned them the reputation of being bloodthirsty savages. In Waorani language wao means ”people” while cawode is used to describe outsiders, that is, the white man. Literally, the word cawode means ”inhuman cannibal,” or as an old Waorani warrior explained: ”those who cut up everything into pieces.”(5) Hanna Dahlström is an editor and reporter at www.yelah.net. Yelah is a Swedish independent media group, uncovering activism and politics worldwide. She has recently worked in Ecuador, researching Skanska and oil exploration on indigenous land. Contact: hannagoanna@hotmail.com Footnotes 1. See information about Skanska provided via trivia game on the website of a contracted advertising company. "Skanska - Trivia en Oil & Gas 2005": http://www.siainteractive.com/sitio2/050579.htm For further informaition on this topic, see the following series by Agneta Enstrom: (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 4) (Part 5) |
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