Oil and Missionaries in Ecuador
Maidenberg, H.J.
'QUITO, Ecuador-The rising tide of nationalism presently sweping Latin America has cre- ated an impasse between the Government of this impoverished country and the develop- ers of one of the...
...While claiming al their rights in the original contract, the oil group has agreed to renegotiation...
...Renegotiation Sought ?he Government is seeking to renegotiate Gulf-Texaco's oper- ating contract...
...Product of Junta For one thing, the 90-day-old Government of President Jose Maria Velasco Ibarra notes that the five-year concession granted Gulf-Texaco in March of 1964 was the work of the military jun then in power here end tn out irr March, 1966...
...The two tribes o head hunters have never bee pacified...
...After sinking 11 wells and finding high-grade, low ul- phur petroleum in 10 of them, the Gulf-Texaco ground, has of- fered to lay a pipeline from the Aguarico River area across the Andes at a level of 13,500 feet down to the Pacific Coast port of Esmera!das just north of the equator...
...ror many years, the dispute with Peru over lands in ques- tion that were given this land's powerful southern neighbor by the so-called Rio Protocol of 1942, has been one of the few unifying subjects in this na- tion...
...Flmally, the oil here could compete with the potential flow from recently discovered Ales- can fields not operated by the petroleum companies working here...
...Should it be proven that for- eign oil concerns were indeed working in the disputed terri- tory under Peruvian license, few here doubt that it would cast a shadow over the entire foreign petroleum scene...
...Meanwhile, this poor country of largely illiterate Indians will have to wait for the prosperity the transistor radios tell them is hidden beneath their feet...
...QUITO, Ecuador-The rising tide of nationalism presently sweping Latin America has cre- ated an impasse between the Government of this impoverished country and the develop- ers of one of the most poten- tially lucrative petroleum finds in recent years...
...The rub, however, is that the new Government is in the midst of a political "revolving door," as officials seem to be ap- pointed one day and resigning the next...
...According to petroleum ex- perts here, the pipeline, laid' above ground, should cost no less than S1.25-million, while the cost of continued explora- tioR could bring the Gulf-Tex- aco outlays to $200-million be- fore the first drop of oil reaches Esmeraldas...
...He also ques- tions the 50-50 profits split in the-expiring contract...
...By Ecuadorian law, the con- cessions must be made in a rectangular or square mass end his precludes any "gerrrnman- dering of concessions, the Government has asserted con- sequently...
...But the problems facing the oil concerns here do not stem from technical or marketing factors...
...The Ecuadorian Government further observes that the agree- mert did not cover any pipeline rights, which President Velasco claims should be the property of his country...
...Nevertheless, the oil experts now believe that what was for- merly considered a southern extension of the recent rich oil strikes in Colombia may prove to be the reverse...
...Unlike Venezuelan oil, which has to be desulphurized to meet new ati-pollution standards set by' many United States com- munities, Ecuadorian oil has to pass through the Panama Canal to the United States East Coast, which would be impossible for the huge modem tankers...
...The new oil fields were dis- covered by a joint Gulf Oil Texaco group in the Ecuado- ran jungles south of the Co- lombian border and east of the lofty Andean Cordillera that divides this land...
...Equally important, the Ecua- dorian government wants the original 1.4 million hectares (2.4 acres each) reduced by 900,000 hectares...
...Some sources familiar with the impasse believe the Govern- ment wants to solidfy itself be- fore opening serious nei.;- tions because of the sensitive subject of Peruvian licensed foreign oil companies now drill- ing in areas considered here to be national territory...
...Wile the appointments and resignations are not connected with the petroleum problem, it has prevented meaningful talks and will probably continue to do so for many months...
...Operation Delayed Recently, the Gulf-Texaco group and a number of other oilprospectorswere moving into east central Ecuador, but prog- ress there must await the suc cess of missionaries in explain ing the strange machines and operations of the oil hunters to the Aucas and Jivaros, two of the most savage Indian tribes ever encountered in Lat- in America...
Vol. 2 • December 1968 • No. 8
