Weekly Report - 24 November 2011 (WR-11-47)

ECUADOR | Oil boom. The high price of oil has eliminated Ecuador’s trade deficit this year, and provided funds to the state to increase spending and public investment, the government claimed last week. Ecuador is also taking advantage of the higher price through increased production: the state-owned oil company, Petroecuador, announced on 8 November that it had broken its daily production record with 156,359bpd. Petroecuador attributed the increase in production to more efficient technology, although it is fair to say that it was driven to improve. President Rafael Correa had put heavy pressure on the firm, even threatening to privatise it in August unless it bucked up its ideas [WR-11-32]. “It is the typical behaviour of a monopoly which knows that whether things are done well or poorly everyone receives the same cheque,” Correa said then.

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