Nicaragua in Deal With
Exxon Mobil to Process
Crude
Nicaragua has agreed to
let U.S. oil company
ExxonMobil Corp buy and
process the crude it
buys from Venezuela,
President Daniel Ortega
said on Thursday.
With soft financing,
Venezuelan leftist
President Hugo Chavez
allows Nicaragua to buy
up to 10 million barrels
of oil a year, but
Nicaragua last year was
only able to buy 2
million barrels due to a
lack of storage and
refining capacity.
Nicaragua, one of Latin
America's poorest
countries, does not have
a state oil refinery.
Ortega, a former Marxist
guerrilla and a close
friend of Chavez, said
ExxonMobil's unit Esso
Standard Oil would
handle the refining deal
and Esso would sell
Nicaragua a storage
plant.
"Nicaragua is going to
have another plant to
store oil and allow Esso
to buy and refine
600,000 barrels of crude
a month," Ortega said in
a speech marking a year
in office.
The deal marks improved
relations between
ExxonMobil and Nicaragua
following a tax payment
dispute last year.
Ortega's government
seized Esso Standard
Oil's fuel tanks in
August as part of a
demand for a tax
payment, drawing U.S.
criticism.
A Nicaraguan judge later
lifted the embargo of
assets.
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