Gasoline refinery set for Central America; presidents decline to pick a site

Panama and Guatemala are in contention for the site of the most expensive project ever undertaken in Central America. Ten heads of state, representing the isthmus plus Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, met in La Romana, the Dominican Republic, to decide whether a US$6.5 billion gasoline refinery would be built in Puerto Armuelles, Panama, or Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala. Aiming to reduce Central America's energy costs, the refinery, with a capacity of 360,000 barrels per day, would provide the isthmus with gasoline at US$8 a barrel less than open-market prices, according to Mexico's Energy Secretary Fernando Canales.