Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa on Saturday threatened to expel Repsol if the Spanish oil company did not drop a lawsuit against the Andean country over a tax dispute, according to Reuters. The widely popular leftist has repeatedly threatened to expel Repsol, one of the OPEC nation's biggest investors, and other foreign companies to pressure them into signing deals that give the state a bigger share of their oil revenues. Repsol and other oil companies sued Ecuador last year over charges the government violated their contracts by taking nearly all of their oil revenues above a benchmark price for each barrel of oil extracted. Companies said the windfall tax made their business unprofitable in Ecuador. "If they (Repsol) want to continue in Ecuador they have to drop the arbitration," Correa said during his weekly media address. "We would like them to stay ... but they can't stay in a state they are suing." A Repsol spokesman in Quito was not immediately available for comments. Since he took office in 2007, Correa has launched a drive to renegotiate foreign oil and mining deals to exert more control over those key sectors of the economy. But the former economy minister has not traced the steps of leftist allies Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia, who have nationalized key industries as part of their efforts to bring socialism to their countries. In November Repsol reached a last-minute deal with Ecuador to overhaul its contractual terms after Correa threatened to end its oil extraction deal. Analysts say Correa's tough negotiating has scared off billions of dollars in foreign investment at a time when the country's finances are jeopardized by crashing oil prices. Repsol operates three oilfields in the Amazon jungle with a capacity to produce around 65,000 barrels per day.
