]The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – Costa Rica reported that Nicaragua has offered oil concessions in Costa Rican maritime areas and called for “immediate withdrawal” of some exploration blocks or areas that Managua has negotiated with U.S. firms and Spain.
The Costa Rican Foreign Ministry said that “a significant number of blocks or areas of oil concessions offered by Nicaragua, both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea are in maritime areas of the Republic of Costa Rica”.
According to an official statement, the government of Laura Chinchilla called for “immediate withdrawal” from its territory which Nicaragua has promoted and is offering blocks or areas of exploration and exploitation of oil contained in the document entitled “Petroleum Promotional Folder of Nicaragua”, published in 2012.
Nicaragua has already negotiated a contract with the American company Noble Energy Ltd, and is in talks with Spanish Repsol.
The protest signed by the Costa Rican Foreign Minister Enrique Castillo, and referred to his Nicaraguan counterpart, Samuel Santos, “Nicaragua requires no concessions for the exploration or exploitation of maritime areas blocks or violate maritime spaces belonging to Costa Rica “.
The letter was delivered on Monday at the Embassy of Nicaragua in San José, accompanied by a map in which local authorities indicate the spaces considered Rican maritime territory, and which have given concessions in Nicaragua.
“It is clear that the publication of that oil promotional material in 2012, and the information contained therein, seriously violates maritime spaces belonging to Costa Rica,” insisted the Government of San Jose.
The problem is that the marine boundary between the two countries is not well defined and negotiations have been suspended since 2005.
For San Jose, “Nicaragua has not wanted to alert potential bidders that the limits are not defined” and that there “offered areas owned or claimed by Costa Rica”.
The Government also announced that it will deliver a note to the embassies of various countries, “aimed at associations and oil companies and States, noting the country’s legal position about offering oil blocks from Nicaragua”.
In total, Costa Rica says there are 18 blocks in the Pacific, and 55 in the Caribbean that Managua has offered to oil activities and found in Costa Rican territory, where exploration and exploitation of oil is prohibited.
This protest marks a new chapter of friction between the two countries, who constantly have border disputes of all kinds. EFE
The Costa Rica News (TCRN)
San Jose Costa Rica
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