Prospecting For Oil
China plans to prospect
Costa Rica for oil, as
part of a bilateral
alliance in the
hydrocarbon sector.
The state National
Petroleum Corporation of
China, the second
largest in the world,
will launch preliminary
geological probes,
RECOPE chairman Jose
Desanti announced.
Currently, oil
prospecting in Costa
Rica is frozen, because
of a disagreement with
U.S. firm Harken. He
added that, generally
speaking, the project
depends on its economic,
social, and
environmental
feasibility.
In May 2002, responding
to a large-scale
mobilization of the
country's
environmentalists, Costa
Rican president Abel
Pacheco announced a
moratorium on oil
exploration and open-pit
mining in Costa Rica.
Harken Energy, a
Texas-based oil company
with close ties to U.S.
President George W.
Bush, had previously
obtained rights to
search for crude in
Costa Rica. Before
failing an environmental
impact review in
February 2002, it had
planned to drill
offshore. Harken is
demanding that the Costa
Rican government pay
upwards of $12 million
in reparations for its
aborted exploits. |
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