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January 9, 2008 |
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PETROECUADOR: New Head Discloses Corruption in the Company Navy Rear Admiral Fernando Zurita, PetroEcuador's recently installed head, said that corruption in the Ecuador's state oil firm is widespread, Stephan Kueffner at Bloomberg News reports. Admiral Zurita took over the reins beginning January 2008 after President Rafael Correa sacked the previous head on grounds of unsatisfactory performance. "There is theft in the tens of thousands, tens of millions, hundreds of millions of dollars," Admiral Fernando Zurita, president of PetroEcuador, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying. "We will find much more as a result of the review that we are making of oil contracts." The new head added that he is intent to find the persons who took money from the company and make them pay for the theft, Bloomberg says. Among his development plans is the establishment of a corporate area to protect the environment in order to avoid costly environmental costs. Funds for this will be taken from a US$4.24 billion budget. Some of the funding will be used to buy refined fuel. Ecuador imports fuel because it lacks refining capacity. In previous years, Petroecuador, according to published reports, was faced with cash-problems. The state-oil firm has no funds for maintenance, has no funds to repair pumps in diesel, gasoline and natural gas refineries, and has no capacity to pay suppliers and vendors. The government refused to give the much- needed cash alleging inefficiency and non-transparency in Petroecuador's dealings. In 2008, a new management team was appointed to turn around the company's operations. |
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