Andean Group - May 2024

ECUADOR | Noboa gets ball rolling on Yasuní oil ban. Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa issued a decree on 9 May establishing a committee tasked with ending oil drilling in the Yasuní national park, as was approved by voters in a referendum in August last year. In February this year, Noboa had suggested that he would seek to delay implementing the ban, expressing concern over its impact on the government’s finances. Yesterday’s decree orders the creation of a five-member committee, which will include representatives from the energy ministry, environment ministry, economy ministry, and women’s & human rights ministry, as well as state oil company Petroecuador. The committee is tasked with “complying with the popular will regarding the progressive and ordered winding down of all activity related to oil extraction” in the Ishpingo, Tambococha, and Tiputini (ITT) oilfields, also known as Block 43. The decree does not provide a timeframe for ending oil drilling in the area.

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