The five foreign hydrocarbons corporations operating in Ecuador said they are willing to overhaul their contracts with the government. President Rafael Correa who is seeking to increase control over the country's key sector said he wants oil firms to strike an agreement in 45 days.

The Spanish oil corporation Repsol SA could sell a 5 to 10% of its Argentine unit YPF to four local provinces, Madrid's El Mundo reported, citing unnamed sources close to negotiations between Repsol chairman Antoni Brufau and governor of the Chubut province Mario Das Neves.

Brazil's government oil managed corporation Petrobras finished 2007 in sixth place of PFC Energy 50's ranking, which lists the world's largest oil companies based on their market values.

Keeping electricity rates frozen cost the Argentine Treasury four billion US dollars in four years, from 2003 to 2007. A sum which could have been invested in six 800 MW thermal generation plants or two gas pipelines from Bolivia according to Argentina's Cammesa, manager of the country's wholesale electricity market.

Brazil is seeking to acquire military technology from France that could help it become the first country in Latin America to have a nuclear submarine, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.
Argentina's Patagonian hydrocarbons rich province of Chubut announced this week the discovery of new oil deposits that will help double the province's production, anticipated Governor Mario Das Neves.
Brazil's government managed oil company Petrobras announced this week the discovery of a huge second natural gas field 290 kilometeres off the coast of Rio do Janeiro and 40 kilometeres north of the Tupi field which is thought to be one of the largest discovered in the past twenty years.
Ed. Note: This opinion piece, which first appeared in the Chilean daily La Tercera, gives the background to Chile's looming energy problems and then proceeds to pitch the line that is touted by Chile's media and business establishment: build dams in Chile's water-rich Patagonia area to solve the energy problem; build the HidroAysen project. 'HidroAysen' is joint venture involving Spanish-Italian electricity giant Endesa and Chilean energy company Colbún.

OPEC is ready to increase its output if the fundamentals of supply and demand justify such a move, but does not believe there is a current shortage of oil in the market, the cartel's secretary-general Abdallah el-Badri said on Wednesday.

Chile's Ministry of Mines expects to sign next March oil operating contracts with the corporations that have won licences to explore and exploit hydrocarbons in the extreme south of the country reports La Prensa Austral from Punta Arenas.