Ecuador was making final revisions to its Hydrocarbons Law, which was ratified by the legislative body and signed into law on April 25, a top energy official told media on Tuesday.

Ivan Rodriguez, Ecuador's energy minister, said that the law was being reconsidered in the light of recommendations made by the country's Attorney General Jose Maria Borja and Administration Minister Jose Modesto Apolo.

The new law demands that 50 percent of oil companies' "excess profit" be turned over to the government while the original law required that oil companies were to spend a minimum of 10 percent of their profits seeking new reserves.

According to the new law, "excess profit," or windfall profit, is defined as the extra profit oil companies have made from the margin between the average monthly free on-board price earned by contracting companies and the same average price as it applied on the day they signed their contracts with the country.

Ecuadorian entrepreneurs have expressed their opposition to Ecuador's Constitutional Tribunal, saying the new law contained unconstitutional terms, which they saw as contrary to their interests.

Source: Xinhua