LatinNews Daily - 3 March 2025

*Ecuador’s government led by President Daniel Noboa has become mired in controversy over an alleged plan to sell the Sacha oil concession in Orellana province, which is the country’s most productive oilfield. On 1 March the national assembly released a statement to “warn Ecuadoreans that the national government took advantage of the Carnival public holiday to hand over the Sacha oilfield to a private company, contravening the hydrocarbons law”. The Ecuadorean media outlet Primicias reported the same day that the mining and energy ministry had confirmed that it had awarded the Sacha oilfield on 28 February to Sinopetrol – a consortium of Petrolia Ecuador and Amodaimi Oil Company, subsidiaries of Canada's New Stratus Energy and China’s Sinopec respectively. Primicias reported that, although an agreement had been reached, no contract has been signed with Sinopetrol. Responding to the criticism from the national assembly, which said that selling Sacha would cost the Ecuadorean state “over US$8bn”, Energy & Mining Minister Inés Manzano wrote on social media that “I have not signed the contract”. She added that “if we do, we will do so thinking of Ecuadoreans’ needs: production and social investment”.