QUITO: Ecuador is on the brink of signing new contracts with most private oil companies operating in the country as the state tries to increase revenue from the sector, but a top official warned there may be some hold-outs. Tuesday is the deadline for executives to ink new deals that would throw out profit-sharing arrangements in favor of flat-fee service contracts. Several companies, such as Brazil's Petrobras and two companies controlled by China's top oil and gas company CNPC, have balked at the terms. “We have come to agreements with most of the companies and we are polishing the documents,” Wilson Pastor, Ecuador's minister for oil policy, told Reuters late on Friday after a marathon negotiating session. He said that Tuesday's deadline remained firm. “Those who do not sign on Tuesday will not sign at all, definitely,” he said. Pastor, still looking crisp after Friday's lengthy session, added that Ecuador TLC, a unit of Petrobras, is holding out, but that contrary to some media reports the company has not decided to reject the deal. “We have had disagreements with Petrobras,” Pastor said. “We are negotiating hard. There is still no final decision from Petrobras. We hope that decision will be positive.” If it is not, he said, the company would be paid off and its operations would be taken over by Petroamazonas or Petroecuador, Ecuador's state-run oil companies. “We have not come to an agreement on the tariffs,” Pastor said. “This is a key reason and Petrobras also probably doesn't like the contract by which services would be provided.”
