Tegucigalpa, Honduras – The Honduran government announced on Friday that it had reversed its decision to temporarily take over the private oil storage terminals of two U.S. oil companies.
The U.S. ambassador had warned the takeover could have “serious” consequences.
The government’s decision was revealed after Honduran presidential legal affairs adviser Enrique Flores met with executives of Chevron and Esso, the Honduran subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp., and the Dutch company Shell.
The government instead will use the storage terminals of the Honduran fuel distribution company Distribuidora de Productos de Petroleos SA, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
President Manuel Zelaya announced Jan. 13 that the government would temporarily take over the terminals as part of a program to drive down fuel prices. It was described as a stopgap measure until ConocoPhillips Co. could build the terminals it agreed to provide when it won a contract for the service last fall.
It could take up to a year for ConocoPhillips to build the facilities, which are to allow fuel distribution at cheaper rates.
Despite Zelaya’s initial announcement, which drew criticism from the Honduran business community, a spokesman for the U.S. companies said they had no plans to leave Honduras.
U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ford had said the takeover would “affect the U.S. oil companies and cause big losses to all of the importers.” The U.S. Embassy did not immediately respond to the government’s announcement.
