Chile's ENAP first to sign new Ecuador oil deal
* Midnight deadline for other oil companies to sign
* Brazil's Petrobras expected to reject new contract
QUITO, Nov 23 (Reuters) - Chile's state-controlled oil company ENAP was set to become the first business to sign a new production deal with Ecuador's government on Tuesday as negotiations with other firms entered their final hours.
Companies that do not reach terms by midnight will be paid for the investments they have made in the country and asked to leave, according to President Rafael Correa.
The new contracts -- meant to replace profit-sharing schemes with deals featuring flat service fees -- are a key part of Correa's effort at increasing state oil revenue.
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The government said ENAP, which produces 13,600 barrels of crude per day in various fields in eastern Ecuador, would become the first company to agree to the new pacts in a signing ceremony scheduled for on Tuesday.
Brazil's state-controlled oil company Petrobras (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) was holding out and did not plan to sign, sources at the company told Reuters on Monday.
The Brazilian firm's Ecuadorean unit has output of around 19,300 bpd from its Block 18 in the Amazon province of Orellana. It is also a stakeholder in a heavy crude pipeline.
Other company sources close to the talks said Chinese companies Andes Petroleum and PetroOriental had reached preliminary agreements, while Spain's Repsol-YPF (REP.MC) was unhappy with service fees being offered by the government.
Petrobras also had been negotiating hard to try to raise the proposed fees, Wilson Pastor, Ecuador's minister for oil policy, told Reuters on Friday. [ID:nN20208560]
Some analysts say Ecuador's tougher stance with private operators is part of a global trend.
Others warned Ecuador may be placing its petroleum sector in peril by alienating business.
Andes Petroleum and PetroOriental, both controlled by Chinese energy giant CNPC, had threatened this month to seek arbitration, saying the talks have been "marked by a lack of transparency -- in terms of take it or leave it, confiscatory measures and pressure to accept conditions." [ID:nN12174695] (Additional reporting by Santiago Silva and Alexandra Valencia; Editing by Walter Bagley)
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