Is Studmuffin's hardball finally working?

Hey, maybe Correa has finally made big oil's poker face crack. With last week's declaration that Repsol (REP) would be thrown out of the country which was then backed up by another Muffin attack on FDI this weekend that went....

"Let the multinational companies understand; the Banana Republic is finished. Conditions are not made by then (any longer), they are made by the country (Ecuador)."

......Repsol looks like it's suddenly realized this time is serious. Noises from the Spanish government this morning were "the negotiations are ongoing". Tell that to Correa, señores, because he said on his Saturday show "Now they are contacting me...now they want to talk; too late."

So anyway the Repsol bigwigs are reportedly flying out to Ecuador as I write these words. Let's see who wins this round of brinkmanship. Shades of how President Studmuffin won the fight with Carlos Slim and America Movil and all of a sudden Correa looks in the catbird seat. Will REP kowtow? Watch this space........

Are oil companies wealthy, or is South America poor? Or both? Or neither?

Between July 1st and September 30th, combined revenues at Exxon Mobil (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP) and Chevron (CVX) were U$288Bn.

Between July 1st and September 30th, the estimated* combined GDPs of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela were U$278.7Bn.

Three oil companies generate more wealth than all of Spanish speaking South America. (i.e. the bit without Brazil). To be honest I don't know whether it's good or bad or whatever, but it does give some context. Interesting factoid, no?

3q08 Estimated GDPs (U$Bn)
Argentina	70.2
Venezuela	63.8
Colombia	46.3
Chile	44.2
Peru	29.4
Ecuador	11.9
Uruguay	6.2
Bolivia	3.6
Paraguay	2.9
Total	278.7
3q08 Oil Co. Revs (U$Bn)
CVX	78.9
XOM	137.7
COP	71.4
Total	288.0

*Calculated by taking the IMF official GDP numbers for 2007 (exchange rate) and adding a blanket 8% for average regional growth. This blanket admittedly underestimates some countries (e.g. Peru, Argentina) but overestimates others (e.g. Chile, Ecuador)