QUITO : The deadline for a Chinese-Canadian consortium to pay a $1.5 billion upfront payment to Ecuador in order to develop the country's most productive oil block has passed, the energy minister said on Wednesday, seemingly scuppering the deal. President Daniel Noboa, who is seeking re-election in April, had said the consortium, made up of subsidiaries of Chinese state energy giant Sinopec and Canada's New Stratus Energy, had until Tuesday night to make the payment and that the deal would not