The Reuters news agency is reporting that Ecuador has confirmed it will not allow oil drilling inside part of the Yasuni rainforest.
The move could hurt the operations of China’s Andes Petroleum, Spain’s Repsol, and Brazil’s Petrobras who manage oil fields partially inside the area. “We are not going to allow oil exploitation in this area because there are international treaties that protect these tribes,” Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga told reporters.
Government officials said companies could consider asking the government for compensation for not extracting oil out of the 700,000-hectare (1.7 million acres) area, which is inside the Yasuni rain forest, which Ecuador has offered to protect from oil drilling in exchange for cash compensation from the international community.