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Ecuador Shuts Down Oil Production

Ecuador has declared a state of emergency after recent protests have dropped oil production by 65% and forced Defence Minister Solon Espinosa to resign. Since last Sunday, the protesters are demanding higher wages, more jobs for locals, and the construction of schools, roads and health clinics. They also want the immediate exit from the country of EnCana and Occidental, and the expulsion of Petrobras of Brazil from the Yasuni National Park.

The military has been called in to restore order and claimed they had secured the eastern provinces of Orellana and Sucumbi­os, which produce three-quarters of state oil production and about half of private oil production. The constant back-and-forth between the rich Spanish aristocracy and the indigenous population has exploded into the streets, bringing into sharp focus the foreign benefactors of the oil empire in Ecuador and its poverty-stricken local population. Revolution is spreading quickly.

Meanwhile, US crude oil rose $1.63 to $64.90 a barrel due to this news and the recent Jordanian attack today.

posted by the prisoner @ 1:04:00 PM