MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Breaking News from the area.

Headlines:
Scab outbreak still out of control; Good summer season in Chile; ENAP finds more oil in Egypt; Chilean Navy dismantling Antarctic base; Dohne sheep test breeding in Magallanes.

Scab outbreak still out of control

A small farm, Tern Aike, in Santa Cruz province apparently is the origin of the scab outbreak in the extreme south of Argentine Patagonia which has caused concern on both sides of the border. Roberto Arbilla, vicepresident of the Río Gallegos Rural Society confirmed the news during the closing ceremony of the 52 Cattle Breeders Show in Punta Arenas. "I believe this week sanitary officials are checking all surrounding and neighbouring farms and with this information will be able to determine the extent of the parasite disease", explained Mr. Arbilla. However apparently the outbreak is minor and limited to the Tern Aike farm, but with direct responsibility from the local sanitary officials since the scab came with imported sheep from other areas of Argentina. Mr. Arbilla added he fully supported the strict rules imposed for the transport of sheep and cattle in general from Santa Cruz to Tierra del Fuego by the Chilean authorities, since "if we get it wrong we'll have to pay the consequences dearly". Carlos Rowlands head of the Chilean Agriculture and Livestock Services said that he has information indicating that scab has been detected not in one but several Santa Cruz farms, a couple of them neighbouring with Chile. "We consider this an emergency and we've sent people to Santa Cruz to assess the real extent of the scab outbreak", said Mr. Rowlands.

Good summer season in Chile

Chilean Economy minister Jorge Rodríguez offered a positive review of the first two months of the 2004 summer season with a 22,9% increase in the number of foreign tourists. Last January and February, 440,337 foreign tourists visited Chile spending over 219 million US dollars according to Minister Rodríguez. Hotel occupancy reached 53,7%, of which 67,9% were Chileans and 32,1% foreigners. The destinations which most Chilean tourists attracted were Arica, Iquique, La Serena, Viña del Mar, Pucón, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. Foreigners preferred, Viña del Mar, Arica, Pucón, Puerto Montt, Coihaique, Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas. Minister Rodríguez pointed out that the 2004 numbers were encouraging but also recalled that they were preceded by a particularly bad year 2003, when the Iraq conflict, the SARS scare and a general downturn of world economic activity kept people at home.

ENAP finds more oil in Egypt

The Chilean government oil company ENAP announced this Tuesday in Santiago the discovery of new oil reserves in Egypt. "Technical assessments done by our international branch Sipetrol in the "Ferdaus 1" exploratory well have confirmed the existence of oil in Egypt", said the company in an official release. The well is located in the North Bahariya area in the west basin of the Egyptian Sahara desert and follows the discovery last year of the first exploratory well "Gamma 1" Samples from "Ferdaus 1" have shown the existence of light oil with a 43/45 API density, with a crude extraction rate between 940 and 2,300 barrels per day at a depth of 2,800 meters. The well also contained natural gas. "We're very satisfied with the exploration, this will enable us to begin production this year and consolidate our exploration strategy in Egypt", underlined ENAP CEO Daniel Fernández. Although ENAP has concentrated in hydrocarbons refining, the company has also invested in increasing oil and natural gas production exploring overseas. With this purpose 330 million US dollars have been earmarked for 2004, compared to 263 million US dollars last year. ENAP controls 40% of the energy production market in Chile and last year invested in oil assets in Colombia and is holding talks with the Brazilian giant Petrobras for the development of joint ventures. The company's profits in 2003 reached 227,3 million US dollars, a 69% increase over 2002.

Chilean Navy dismantling Antarctic base

The Chilean Navy this season dismantled the inner accommodations of the Antarctic base Arturo Prat, and if there are no interested Chilean parties in running the place, next season the whole infrastructure will be dismantled and shipped back to the continent. Rear Admiral Arturo Ojeda commander of the Third Naval Zone based in Punta Arenas said the Navy's decision was taken following budget restrictions and actually "a formal closing ceremony took place last February 23". However the dismantling of the base will not mean a lesser presence of the Chilean Navy in the area, "we'll concentrate in logistic operations, protection of human lives in the high seas and of the Antarctic ecosystem", said R/A Ojeda. "There's a growing maritime traffic in the area as well as a greater presence of Antarctic operations, so we'll be around, 24 hours on the clock", added R/A Ojeda. As to the possibility that the base be managed by the Magallanes Region, as was advanced by Mayor Jaime Jelincic, R/A Ojeda said the Navy would give its full support for any such operation, but if it doesn't happen, "next season we will complete dismantle Arturo Prat". The announcement was made during a press conference aboard the icebreaker "Almirante Viel" on the closing of the Chilean Antarctic season that began last November. Among the highlights of this season R/A Ojeda mentioned the support and supply operations to Chilean and foreign Antarctic bases; combined sea rescue and patrolling exercises with the Argentine Navy; maritime signalling and control activities and hosting Spanish King Juan Carlos during his recent visit to Antarctica.

Dohne sheep test breeding in Magallanes

The first Dohne lambs born in Chile but originally from Australia were officially presented last week in estancia Josefina, Magallanes Region. The Dohne lambs belong to a project partly financed by the Chilean Foundation for Agriculture Innovation with the purpose of introducing in Magallanes a hardy breed with finer wool than the preponderant Corriedale and with a good meat production. The project named "Biotechnology for the introduction of the Dohne breed in the Magallanes steppe" pretends to increase sheep farming profitability. A 50/55 kilos Corriedale generates an average annual unitary income of 16,54 US dollars. However in New Zealand a similar sheep can make 25,71 US dollars. But according to the books and test breeding, the average Dohne breed in the Magallanes steppe should reach 35,88 US dollars. This now has to be proved in a greater scale. The cost of the project so far has been 160,000 US dollars consisting in the Dohne embryo implantation in Corriedale ewes. Lambs were born September/October and according to the project's managers "have adapted wonderfully to the climatic conditions of the region".