As part of an ongoing lawsuit between US Chevron oil and plaintiffs from various Amazonian villages, an Ecuadorian court has ordered the seizure of approximately US$200 million worth of the company's assets. From the US$200 million, roughly US$96 million is money that the Ecuadorian government owed Chevron, which had been held in Ecuadorian bank accounts by the company and licensing fees accrued from the use of Chevron’s trademarks in the country. This most recent ruling comes as a further blow to the giant company, which was found liable for US$19 billion worth of damages incurred by Texaco (purchased by Chevron in 2001). Between 1964 and 1992, Texaco was accused of placing drilling waste in unlined pits, causing contamination of the area and illness amongst the locals. The ruling has been hailed by the plaintiffs' lead lawyer as “a huge first step for the rainforest villagers on the road to collecting the entire US$19 billion judgement”. In related news, Ecuador President Rafael Correa said over the weekend that his government will fight against paying Occidental Petroleum Corporation compensation that was ordered by an international tribunal for canceling a contract in 2006. “We will continue fighting to not pay a single penny from the Ecuadorian people to this abusive transnational company that tried to defraud the country,” Correa said during his weekly media address. Ecuador cancelled Occidental's operating contract in May 2006, alleging that the company broke its terms by transferring a 40 percent stake to Encana Corp. (ECA, ECA.T) without obtaining approval from the country's energy ministry. Occidental filed for arbitration with the Washington D.C.-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (Icsid), under the U.S.-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty. Early this month Icsid released a ruling, ordering Ecuador to pay Occidental US$1.77 billion, plus pre- and post-award interest. Last week, Ecuador filed an appeal to overturn the Icsid ruling, arguing the latter has no jurisdiction in the case. “We won't allow this money from leaving the country,” Correa said. He added that the US company broke its contract and the Ecuadorian law. Ecuador expects the process of trying to overturn the Icsid ruling could take one to two years.
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