By Alonso Soto
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuador hopes to sign the first batch of agreements with foreign oil firms to increase state participation in contracts by next week, Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga said on Thursday.
"The president has the final word ... but I hope next week we can start signing understanding memorandums," he said, speaking at the Reuters Latin America Investment Summit.
Ecuador is reworking foreign oil contracts as part of leftist President Rafael Correa's aggressive campaign to boost state control over key sectors of the economy from oil to mining.
The companies renegotiating their deals include Brazil's Petrobras (PETR4.SA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), France's Perenco, China's consortium Andes Petroleum (0857.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Spain's Repsol (REP.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)
Chiriboga said he has not reach a deal with all of the companies, but says negotiations are "moving forward nicely."
He declined to say which companies have already secured a deal with the government, but that he expects a sharp increase in investment this year after the new contracts are signed.
Chiriboga said Ecuador, South America's fifth largest oil producer, expects its total output to increase by 10,000 barrels of oil per day to 520,000 bpd in 2008 compared with the previous year.
(For summit blog, see: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)
(Reporting by Alonso Soto)
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