Ecuador looks to Iran and China in new oil refinery

China and Iran are interested in investing in a six-billion-dollar oil refinery Ecuador is building with Venezuelan help on the Pacific coast, President Rafael Correa said Saturday.

“That refinery is being built with (Venezuela’s state giant) PDVSA although Iran and China also are interested,” the Ecuadoran leader said in his weekly television address.

The megaplant on the coast, on which Correa and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez broke ground Wednesday, will be on line fully in 2013 and will be able to produce 300,000 barrels of oil per day.

AFP