As detailed by Xinhua Financial News, Ecuador – South America’s fifth-largest oil producer with an average of 510,000 barrels of crude a day – will invest U.S. $2 billion in its oil industry this year in a bid to increase production by 11 percent.  Some $1.7 billion will be used to increase production at state oil company Petroecuador and another $300 million will be used to revamp the Esmeraldas refinery, Ecuador’s largest.  Unfortunately, despite this invetment, Ecuador seems to be following the Chavez model of economic management.  As the article reports:

“…Last year, Ecuador reactivated its membership in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which had been suspended since it stopped paying cartel dues in 1992.

 Correa, a close ally of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, replaced the head of Petroecuador in November, and in October, signed a decree that nearly doubled the state’s share of windfall oil profits — earnings on oil sold above prices fixed in company contracts…”