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Ecuador's XI Oil Round, auctioning off some 10 million acres of pristine rainforest in the nation's Pastaza and Morona Santiago provinces, opened last November. Set to close this past May, the government extended the bidding deadline to July 16.
Just yesterday, Ecuador announced it would be extending the bidding deadline again, this time to November 28.
To date, a reported ten companies have purchased the papers required to submit and offer but it is unclear, at this time, how many bids were actually submitted.
Ecuador's Nonrenewable Natural Resources Minister says the deadline extension is in response to companies requesting for more time to evaluate the blocks. Likewise, the Ministry of Non-renewable Resources says the second deadline extension is so interested oil companies may, "...deepen their economic evaluation of the blocks."
Cautiously optimistic, The Pachamama Alliance and others are speculating that this second extension may also, or instead, be due to a tepid response from oil companies, and the indigenous and international resistance that has followed the oil round since its inception.
Oil development in the region would violate the rights of seven different indigenous nationalities that live in the region.
The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, and the Confederation of Amazonian Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador have both protested the oil round extensively, and say they will fight until the oil round is canceled.
We plan to continue to closely monitor the situation, and continue our efforts to support the indigenous nationalities that would be affected.
