Entrepreneurs are used to having insomnia brought on by worrying about the taxes they have to pay, which go towards paying for the permanently unfinished adventures started by civil servants who get to sleep without any problem, because they never have to be responsible for what they do.
EDITORIAL
Like Puerto La Union in El Salvador, the alleged refinery to be built in a joint venture between China and Costa Rica is fast becoming another white elephant in Central America, as it generate huge expenses but produces nothing. At least the Puerto de la Union is already built, and maybe, just maybe, someday will be used for something. Instead, the Chinese-Costa Rican refinery is still just an idea, which so far has only served to feed the pockets of officials at Soresco, the company which is supposed to build and manage it.
The state-owned China Development Bank Corporation will be in charge of structuring the financing of $1.2 billion for the new oil refinery in Costa Rica.
Confirmation of the commitment by the Chinese state was made by Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of China, Zhang Gaoli, who met on Sunday with the Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla in San Jose, to sign an agreement.
Australians have begun the process of developing the basic engineering for RECOPE and the CNPC’s new refinery, designed to process 60,000 barrels per day.
A statement from RECOPE reads :
The Australian firm Warley Parsons last week assumed the basic engineering for the project to build a new refinery with capacity to process 60,000 barrels a day, to be carried out in conjunction with the company SORESCO, formed by the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (RECOPE) and the Chinese government company CNPC International.
China and Costa Rica have signed an agreement for funding via the China Development Bank to build a refinery in the province of Limon.
The China Development Bank (CDB) will provide financing between $800 and $900 million and the rest will be contributed equally by the Costa Rican Oil Refinery (Recope) and the China National Petroleum Corporation International (CNPCI).