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Electifying The Electorate To Save The Government: Top Priority For Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez, Noticen Dec 2004

Electifying The Electorate To Save The Government: Top Priority For Dominican Republic's President Leonel Fernandez, Noticen

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

The Dominican Republic has been suffering an electricity shortage that now threatens, implied second-term President Leonel Fernandez (see NotiCen, 2004-05-20), to bring his government down. Blackouts have become a way of life in the country, so much so that the problem was incorporated into Fernandez's inauguration speech last Aug. 16, when he spoke of seeking private bank loans to shore up the failing power-generating and distribution system. The Superintendencia de Electricidad reported in September that the system produces less than half the country's demand. Several plants were out of service for lack of fuel, while others functioned at a fraction …


Venezuela Increases Royalty Fees For Oil Drilling Greatly, Noticen Nov 2004

Venezuela Increases Royalty Fees For Oil Drilling Greatly, Noticen

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced that he would be increasing the royalties the government would charge for oil drilling along the Orinoco oil belt in the country's southeast. The move surprised corporate executives who had not received prior notice of the royalty increase. A former director of the state petroleum corporation warned that oil multinationals might sue over the hike while Chavez boasted that it would add large amounts of revenue to his social-benefits programs. Orinoco project royalties go from 1% to 16.6% "There will be no more petroleum given away," announced Chavez on his weekly radio and television broadcast. …


Brazil Stands Firm On Inspections, Iaea Backs Down, Notisur Writers Oct 2004

Brazil Stands Firm On Inspections, Iaea Backs Down, Notisur Writers

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

Brazil appears to have won a months-long stare-down with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) regarding full access to its nuclear-energy program. IAEA inspectors arrived at a Brazilian nuclear-development site on Oct. 19 with the understanding that they would be permitted to see less than they had been bargaining for. Putting a best face on the limitation, an agency spokesperson in Vienna said the inspectors would not need total access. The IAEA, in backing down, is treading a fine political line in giving Brazil some slack on much the same issue it is pressing Iran on. Brazil took the opportunity …


Ecuador Considers Canceling Occidental Contract, Reforming Hydrocarbons Law, Noticen Writers Sep 2004

Ecuador Considers Canceling Occidental Contract, Reforming Hydrocarbons Law, Noticen Writers

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

The Ecuadoran government has been threatening to cancel a contract with US petroleum corporation Occidental after a ruling in a legal dispute regarding US$75 million in taxes Ecuador collected from the company went in Occidental's favor. A London-based international arbitration court has said Ecuador improperly collected the money and should return it to Occidental, or Oxy, but Ecuadoran officials said Oxy had not complied with a contract it had signed with the country, and they were looking at rescinding the deal. This comes as Ecuador struggles with a drought-induced emergency in its electrical sector and the president and Congress battle …


The Treeless Forests Of Haiti, Noticen Writers Jul 2004

The Treeless Forests Of Haiti, Noticen Writers

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

Once three-quarters forested, Haiti now has less than 1% tree cover. The deforestation is part of an ongoing environmental disaster that recently killed 2,700 people in Haiti and the neighboring Dominican Republic when rain rushed down treeless slopes and fatally flooded valleys.


Argentine Energy Crisis Reveals Region's Weak Power Network, Notisur Writers Apr 2004

Argentine Energy Crisis Reveals Region's Weak Power Network, Notisur Writers

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

An energy crisis in Argentina is having a region-wide impact, exposing the risks of interdependent power delivery systems in the southern cone region of South America. As Argentina and Chile face the possibility of widespread blackouts, analysts fear that the power outages and increases in energy costs could slow Argentina's economic recovery and tie up other regional economies.


Paraguay: Heavily Indebted And Under Investigation, Yacyreta Dam Struggles To Reach Capacity, Notisur Writers Apr 2004

Paraguay: Heavily Indebted And Under Investigation, Yacyreta Dam Struggles To Reach Capacity, Notisur Writers

NotiEn: An Analytical Digest About Energy Issues in Latin America

Debt- and corruption-ridden, the Yacyreta hydroelectric dam project between Paraguay and Argentina is running under capacity. To bring its water to the level where it would run at originally projected levels of production, however, would cause social and ecological destruction, say environmentalists. In the meantime, Paraguayan President Nicanor Duarte Frutos is seeking the investigation and prosecution of former heads of the project and trying to work with Argentine President Nestor Kirchner to get "coherence" regarding how the two countries will handle the dam's massive debts.