Repsol Kow-Tows to Studmuffin and gets to keep its oil

"hmmmm...Muffins..."

As usual, Alonso Soto of Reuters has scooped the field on a big Ecuador biz story. That guy is good, and here's the Reuters story below.

Make no mistake, this one is a big, big win for President Studmuffin and he'll reap both kudos and extra money for his country over this. I just hope he's read John Perkins' "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"........

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UPDATE 1-Ecuador reaches contract deal with Repsol-sources

By Alonso Soto

QUITO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Ecuador will keep its contract with Spain's Repsol (REP.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) after reaching an agreement over new terms, oil ministry sources said Thursday.

"Yesterday we reached an agreement with Repsol, they have accepted our terms," one senior ministry official told Reuters, asking not to be named because he was not allowed to speak on the matter. Two other ministry sources confirmed the deal.

Ecuador had said last week it planned to terminate the company's extraction contract because it could not reach a deal on terms more favorable to the state. But Repsol had said it hoped for an accord.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa had only recently said it was too late for the company to save its contract, but the leftist is known for his arm-twisting tactics with foreign companies to secure more benefits for the state.

Since he took office in 2007, Correa has launched an aggressive drive to renegotiate foreign oil and mining deal to exert more control over those key sectors of the OPEC nation's economy. He has threatened to expel other companies in the past.

The former economy minister wants oil companies to switch to new service deals that would allow the state to keep all the oil they produce in exchange for a set fee.

Oil Minister Derlis Palacios is expected to publicly sign a temporary participation-sharing contract with Repsol later on Thursday in hopes of switching to service deals in a year.

Ecuador has already signed temporary deals with the largest oil companies in Ecuador, including Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and China's Andes Petroleum.

The new deal would lower Repsol's overall tax burden in exchange for giving more of the oil it produces to the state, ministry officials said.

Repsol, one of the Andean country's largest investors, operates three oilfields in the Amazon jungle with a capacity to produce around 65,000 barrels per day. (Reporting by Alonso Soto in Quito; Editing by John Picinich)

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Is Studmuffin's hardball finally working? (3 November)

Guess what? Bolivia wants peace...all Bolivia

"Jaw jaw is better than war war."
Winston Churchill (a man who knew about both)

Leaders of Bolivia, militants, national and local governments, indigenous resistance goups, fascist shock troops; please take notice.

Yesterday the United Nations released a survey taken of over 2,000 Bolivians from all departments and all walks of life (margin of error on survey +/-2.11%). The results might surprise people who've never been to Bolivia or bothered to speak to any of its citizens before opening their mouths and opinionating about what's going on. Bolivians recognize the need to change their country, they don't not support violence, they want to two sides to talk for as long as necessary in order to reach an agreement etc etc. and according to the suvey that's as true in the "rebel states" of Santa Cruz and the other medialunas as it is in the eastern pro-Morales states.

Here are some charts that the UN put together to present its findings yesterday. All I've done is translate the question over each one. All in all it looks like the average Bolivians are a lot smarter than the people that claim to be their leaders.

Do you agree with this phrase? It is important that Bolivians support the re-start of dialogue (between the gov't and the medialuna states)

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Which of these two phrases is closer to your way of thinking?

Green = The country needs to change but without violence:
Red =Some violence is always needed when the country wants to change

Do you agree with the following phrase? However difficult or long it may be, we must continue negotiating until we reach an agreement

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree

Do you agree or disagree with the people who say that sometimes violence is needed to support the process of change that the gov't proposes?

Dark green = strongly agree, green = agree, orange = disagree, red = strongly disagree