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Ecuador posts

Oil closes above $105 for first time on dollar's slide, Latin America tension

Posted Mar 6th 2008 5:40PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Bad News, Commodities, Oil

Oil closed above $105 for the first time in the industrial, modern, or postmodern eras Thursday, after status-quo monetary decisions in Europe and political tension in Latin America sparked both new buying of the commodity as an inflation hedge and renewed concerns about supply.

Oil, which traded at a high of $105.95, closed Thursday up 95 cents to $105.47 per barrel, an all-time record-high close.

The other major energy commodities also closed higher. Heating oil gained 3 cents to $2.97 per gallon, unleaded gasoline added 1 cent to $2.65 per gallon and natural gas climbed 3 cents to $9.75 per million BTUs.

Continue reading Oil closes above $105 for first time on dollar's slide, Latin America tension

To drill or not to drill?

Posted Jun 8th 2007 1:55PM by Michael Fowlkes (RSS feed)
Filed under: International Markets, Other Issues, Politics, Oil

To drill or not to drill? That seems to be the question that Ecuador's President Rafael Correa is asking himself. Or better yet, that is the question that Correa is asking the international community about the possibility of opening up the Yasuni National Park for oil exploration.

I ran across this interesting situation on The Motley Fool. Should the Yasuni National Park be kept free from drilling? There is definitely an interesting scenario taking place down south in Ecuador as the country tries to determine the future of the park.

The park is home to one of the world's greatest biological treasures as well as an estimated oil reserves of up to 1 billion barrels. The country is fairly dependent on oil exports and the reserves that are located in the park represent around 25% of the country's total discovered reserves. So the question becomes, which is more important to Ecuador? Keeping the park and its biological treasures intact, or tapping into the lucrative reserves that the area has to offer?

Continue reading To drill or not to drill?