New book ‘102 Things to Do with a Hole in the Ground‘ spotlights global reclamation projects
Stories of reinvented coal mining regions, regenerated communities and rebuilt ecosystems are told in a new book published this month.
China is serious about expanding its international portfolio: The Asian giant’s recent foreign purchases include a 20% stake in Brazil’s Libra oil field, a skyscraper near Wall Street, and the country’s Lenovo tried, but failed, to buy Canada’s Blackberry.
But these acquisitions pale in comparison to what records reviewed by Reuters are showing. According to a special report, China now controls 90% of Ecuador’s oil, an OPEC nation.
Through a series of financing deals with state-owned oil company PetroEcuador, China has coaxed the Latin American country into submission. Ecuador had little leverage: After a $3.2 billion default in 2008, money hasn’t exactly been flowing into the country.
China is expected to cover 61% of the Ecuadorian government’s $6.2 billion financing needs this year. As part of the deal, “China can claim as much as 90% of Ecuador’s oil shipments in coming years,” Reuters writes.
By mid-2013, Chinese state-controlled firms controlled 83% of its Andean friend’s oil exports. PetroChina, a branch of state-owned China National Petroleum Corp, holds about 60% of these shipments.
The Chinese “provide financing for our country and, in exchange, we ensure sales of oil at international prices,” Ecuador’s former Finance Minister Patricio Rivera told state-run TV earlier this year, as reported by Reuters.
Strapped for cash and eager to fund anti-poverty programs, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa last month announced plans to authorize drilling in the Yasuni National park in the Amazon rainforest. In the grand world of OPEC however, Ecuador is a small player. The country produces just under 360,000 barrels per day, compared with 1.75 million barrels exiting nearby Venezuela – where China also has a firm grip, having negotiated $43 billion in loans. PetroChina also recently snatched up Brazilian Petrobras’s Peruvian oil and gas assets for $2.6 billion.
Read the full Reuters report here.
2 Comments
Peter
Every time we buy something cheap from china we are supporting this one party regime’s further grip.
frankinca
Ah, the proverbial ” market system” is being demonstrated in Ecuador. The US wasn’t interested in it’s southern neighbor so another yellow knight has saved the day. Can’t complain when there are two winners in the game of two countries having what the other needs.