Route for Ecuador's new pipeline upheld in court
Copyright 2001 Reuters
August 20, 2001
QUITO, Ecuador - Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal has upheld the route chosen for a new pipeline that's seen as the buoy of the nation's economy, despite challenges by protest groups, the Energy Ministry said in a statement last week.
Multinational consortium OCP Ecuador SA aims to complete construction of the new $1.1 billion pipeline, which is expected to more than double the country's crude transport capacity to 850,000 barrels per day (bpd), by August 2003.The proposed route will cross Mindo-Nambillo ecological reserve, which is 16 miles (25 km) from Quito and home to 450 bird species. This route alarmed environmental, tourism and Indian groups.
The Constitutional Tribunal, the country's maximum constitutional authority, has rejected a legal recourse presented by these groups in June, according to a statement from the Energy Ministry.
According to this statement, the Tribunal resolved "the route selected has been designed so that there is no damage to the right to live in a healthy, ecologically balanced and pollution-free environment."
Ecuador currently has one pipeline with a maximum capacity of 400,000 bpd.
OCP is comprised of Alberta Energy Co. Ltd. , Agip Petroleum , Kerr-McGee Corp. , Occidental Petroleum Corp. , Spain's Repsol-YPF and Argentina's Perez Companc and construction firm Techint.