Ecuador sees tough talks ahead with oil companies

* Government aims to increase state oil export revenue

* Noncomplying firms to be offered "fair price" for assets

QUITO, July 27 (Reuters) - OPEC-member Ecuador expects tough negotiations ahead with private oil companies that are being asked to sign new contracts aimed at increasing state control over the sector, a top official said on Tuesday.

The government has enacted a law that would permit the state to "liquidate" contracts of noncomplying companies.

"The renegotiation will be difficult. There are companies that might not accept the renegotiation. I sincerely hope that most do," the government's minister for oil policy Wilson Pastor said in a television interview.

Spain's Repsol-YPF (REP.MC), Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA) (PBR.N), the Chinese Andes Petroleum consortium and Italy's ENI (ENI.MI) are among the nation's top petroleum investors.

President Rafael Correa, who has tried to revamp oil contracts for two years, has set a four-month time limit for the new deals to be signed. Under a new constitution, he has widened authority over "strategic" sectors such as mining and oil.

Companies that reject the new contracts will be offered a "fair price" for their operations in Ecuador, Pastor said.

Ecuador, which holds the rotating presidency of OPEC this year, produces 470,000 barrels of oil per day. About 44 percent of the country's output is pumped by private companies. (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)