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Costa Rica
Government Says It Will Close Recope If
China Oil Deal Is Not Approved
The Costa Rican government of Oscar Arias
has said that a contract with China to
jointly build an oil refinery was valid,
despite objections from the Contraloría
General de la República (Comptroller's
Office). The government's decision
"is clear and definitive: we will tell the
Contraloría that we insist on
ratifying the contract," said the ministro
de la Presidencia, Rodrigo Arias, on
Wednesday.
"The urgency of this enormous investment for
this country is well known," Arias said.
Arias made it clear that if the Contraloría
does not approve the contract, the
government will shut down RECOPE.
The Contraloria last month said that
an agreement signed in late 2008 for the Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE)
- state oil refinery - to form a joint
venture with the China National Petroleum
Corporation (CNPC) was not valid.
The Contraloría said, in its statement of
March 27, that Recope officials have to
respect an opinion from the Procuraduría
General de la República (Attorney General)
issued in 1999, that any joint venture or
agreement established to import, refine and
distribute wholesale crude oil and its
derivatives, infringes on the monopoly given
RECOPE by law and that the the Costa
Rican-Chinese joint venture would be in
violation of the monopoly.
The project, according to the Contraloría,
can proceed only if legislators changed the
law.
The us$1 billion-plus dollar refinery was to
be built in the town of Moin, northwest of
Limon, on the Caribbean coast, and would
dramatically increase the country's current
refining capacity.
Arias said that the Contraloria probably did
not weigh all the elements when they took
their decision.
The refinery would generate between 1,000
and 1,500 direct jobs, and some 5,000 more
jobs indirectly in the Caribbean province of
Limon, Arias said.
"This investment will save the country
between us$200 and us$300 million dollars on
its oil bill, now that the price of oil is
low, and if it goes up the size of the
saving will be a lot higher," Arias added.
"The country cannot waste an investment like
this simply because there is a doubt over
whether it is legally presented in a proper
fashion or not," Arias added.
He said that a team of lawyers would study
the contract in order to make a new
presentation to the Contraloria. |
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