French oil company Perenco is abandoning its facilities in Ecuador amid a dispute with the country’s government over alleged tax arrears, officials said on Saturday.
“Perenco has severed relations with the workers,” said Wilson Pastor, manager of Petroamazonas, a subsidiary of Ecuador’s state-owned oil company, which will take over crude production.
Pastor said “Perenco is seeking to unilaterally terminate its contract” to extract oil.
The terms of the contract state that it will automatically be dissolved if operations are suspended for thirty consecutive days, he said.
A source with knowledge of the situation said the head of Perenco expected the company’s departure from Ecuador in the next few days.
The French oil company extracts around 21,000 barrels of crude oil a day in Ecuador, which accounts for a little less than 10 percent of worldwide production.
Since coming to power in January 2007, left-leaning Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa has questioned the terms of agreements between the government and foreign oil companies permitting crude extraction.
Correa said the distribution of profits from crude extraction in the country is unfair and the Ecuadoran government has also accused Perenco of owing close to US$330 million in back taxes.
In March, the government placed an embargo on 70 percent of Perenco-extracted oil, saying the seizure would pay for the company’s overdue arrears.
Perenco said the measure was illegal and sought to have the issue brought before an international arbitration tribunal.
The manager of Petroamazonas denied on Friday that the company’s plan to continue production at Perenco facilities constituted “an expropriation.”
NEXT GENERATION: The four plants in the Central Taiwan Science Park, designated Fab 25, would consist of four 1.4-nanometer wafer manufacturing plants, TSMC said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to begin construction of four new plants later this year, with the aim to officially launch production of 2-nanometer semiconductor wafers by late 2028, Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau director-general Hsu Maw-shin (許茂新) said. Hsu made the announcement at an event on Friday evening celebrating the Central Taiwan Science Park’s 22nd anniversary. The second phase of the park’s expansion would commence with the initial construction of water detention ponds and other structures aimed at soil and water conservation, Hsu said. TSMC has officially leased the land, with the Central Taiwan Science Park having handed over the
The Philippines is working behind the scenes to enhance its defensive cooperation with Taiwan, the Washington Post said in a report published on Monday. “It would be hiding from the obvious to say that Taiwan’s security will not affect us,” Philippine Secretary of National Defense Gilbert Teodoro Jr told the paper in an interview on Thursday last week. Although there has been no formal change to the Philippines’ diplomatic stance on recognizing Taiwan, Manila is increasingly concerned about Chinese encroachment in the South China Sea, the report said. The number of Chinese vessels in the seas around the Philippines, as well as Chinese
AUKUS: The Australian Ambassador to the US said his country is working with the Pentagon and he is confident that submarine issues will be resolved Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd on Friday said that if Taiwan were to fall to China’s occupation, it would unleash China’s military capacities and capabilities more broadly. He also said his country is working with the Pentagon on the US Department of Defense’s review of the AUKUS submarine project and is confident that all issues raised will be resolved. Rudd, who served as Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 and for three months in 2013, made the remarks at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado and stressed the longstanding US-Australia alliance and his close relationship with the US Undersecretary
‘WORLD WAR III’: Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene said the aid would inflame tensions, but her amendment was rejected 421 votes against six The US House of Representatives on Friday passed the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal 2026, which includes US$500 million for Taiwan. The bill, which totals US$831.5 billion in discretionary spending, passed in a 221-209 vote. According to the bill, the funds for Taiwan would be administered by the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and would remain available through Sept. 30, 2027, for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative. The legislation authorizes the US Secretary of Defense, with the agreement of the US Secretary of State, to use the funds to assist Taiwan in procuring defense articles and services, and military training. Republican Representative