Bolivia's Gas Nationalization Complete
flywallyfly
Posts: 1,453
Besides gas I smell a U.S. sponsored coup in the wind .....
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_nationalization
President Evo Morales completed his ambitious oil and gas nationalization plan early Sunday with the last-minute signing of contracts allowing several international companies to continue operating in Bolivia under state control.
Just after a midnight Saturday deadline to wrap up the nationalization talks, Morales joined representatives of eight companies for the signing ceremony in the capital of La Paz, achieving one of his nine-month-old government's central goals.
Among the companies were two affiliates of Brazilian state energy giant Petrobras, Spanish-Argentine company Repsol YPF and Repsol's Bolivian subsidiary, Andina. The French company Total SA and the U.S.-based Vintage Petroleum signed nationalization deals Friday.
Morales nationalized the South American country's oil and gas industry on May 1, giving foreign companies 180 days to sign new deals ceding majority control of their Bolivian operations or leave the country.
At the ceremony, Morales said the petroleum nationalization would be only the first step in his campaign to recover control of Bolivia's natural resources. Earlier this month, he announced plans to bring Bolivia's mines under state control.
"Bolivia will not be as it was before, a beggar state with many social problems," Morales said. "We will continue in this path of recovering our natural resources, not only the hydrocarbons but also the minerals and the non-metallics, and all nonrenewable natural resources that belong to the Bolivian people."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061029/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/bolivia_nationalization
President Evo Morales completed his ambitious oil and gas nationalization plan early Sunday with the last-minute signing of contracts allowing several international companies to continue operating in Bolivia under state control.
Just after a midnight Saturday deadline to wrap up the nationalization talks, Morales joined representatives of eight companies for the signing ceremony in the capital of La Paz, achieving one of his nine-month-old government's central goals.
Among the companies were two affiliates of Brazilian state energy giant Petrobras, Spanish-Argentine company Repsol YPF and Repsol's Bolivian subsidiary, Andina. The French company Total SA and the U.S.-based Vintage Petroleum signed nationalization deals Friday.
Morales nationalized the South American country's oil and gas industry on May 1, giving foreign companies 180 days to sign new deals ceding majority control of their Bolivian operations or leave the country.
At the ceremony, Morales said the petroleum nationalization would be only the first step in his campaign to recover control of Bolivia's natural resources. Earlier this month, he announced plans to bring Bolivia's mines under state control.
"Bolivia will not be as it was before, a beggar state with many social problems," Morales said. "We will continue in this path of recovering our natural resources, not only the hydrocarbons but also the minerals and the non-metallics, and all nonrenewable natural resources that belong to the Bolivian people."
0