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Both Panama and Guatemala
Want Refinery
Panama and Guatemala are
wrangling over a regional
refinery, an initiative
supported by Mexico to process
crude oil in Central America.
The Central American Integration
System (SICA) Extraordinary
Summit, held in the Dominican
Republic at the beginning of
June, left it up to private
investors to choose the country
where the refinery will be
built.
Panamanian Trade and Industry
Minister Alejandro Ferrer
recently said Guatemala used
incorrect figures to gain an
advantage over Panama to build
the refinery.
Panamanian Trade and Industry
Assistant Minister Manuel Jose
Paredes told press Wednesday
that his country hopes to make
this multi-million dollar
investment from loans from
international financial
institutions.
Besides dedicating personnel for
coordination of the work, Panama
counts on a hydrocarbon law, and
destined nearly 10,000 acres of
land in Puerto Armuelles,
Chiriqui Province, to build the
refinery, Paredes said.
He also said that Central
American energy ministers should
talk with investors to present
bids for construction before
August 2006.
According to estimates, the
plant will have a cost of 6.3
billion dollars, with a capacity
to refine 360,000 barrels a day
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