Costa Rican, Chinese Companies Sign Contract
For Joint Refinery
The Refinadora Costarricense de Petroleo (RECOPE)
and the China National Petroleum Corporation
(CNPC) on Wednesday signed a supplement
contract for the establishment of a joint
venture to build an oil refinery.
RECOPE, Costa Rica's state oil refinery and
the CNPC signed an agreement in late 2008 to
form a joint venture, but the deal was not
ratified by the Contraloria General de la
Republica de Costa Rica (Comptroller's
Office), which said the joint venture would
violate the RECOPE's legal monopoly on oil
refining and distribution.
RECOPE president, Jose Leon Desanti, said
that with the supplement contract, it is
clear there is no rupture on the monopoly of
the state-owned refinery and it also set the
shares of both companies at the joint
venture.
The supplement contract will be subject to
the Comptroller's Office for further review.
With an investment of us$1 billion dollars,
the new refinery will allow Costa Rica to
increase its oil refining capacity from
18,000 to 60,000 barrels per day.
The project is the CNPC's first in Central
America after the two countries forged
diplomatic relations in 2007.
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