President Leonel Fernández met last Wednesday with a negotiating commission to discuss the government’s acquisition of shares of the Dominican Shell Oil Refinery.

“We are taking this into account and we have made a series of calculations based on the reports done for us by Vetra. This information will be presented to the Shell representatives in our meeting on Monday

Finance Minister Vicente Bengoa announced at the meeting held in the National Palace that the government has the resources to follow through with the purchase of the oil company shares.

Mr. Bengoa underscored the importance this negotiation holds for the country as the current international situation has generated a constant increase in oil prices. He announced that next Monday a commission of Shell Oil representatives and government officials will meet. The Shell representatives, from Houston, Texas, will travel to the DR to finalize the deal, according to a press release from the President’s Office of Information, Press and Publicity.

Bengoa added that the evaluation of Shell stocks was done by the Vetra Energy Corporation, a Venezuelan firm that won the bid to do this job.

The Finance Minister pointed out that Shell made a public offer to sell its shares that were originally going for $183 million dollars. This amount included earnings from 2006 and 2007 which added up to approximately $140 million dollars.

“We are taking this into account and we have made a series of calculations based on the reports done for us by Vetra. This information will be presented to the Shell representatives in our meeting on Monday,” Vicente Bengoa told reporters in an interview at the National Palace.