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The court case hinges on Texaco’s past activities in Ecuador (Photo: Mongabay)
It also ruled that the judgment was unenforce- and Brazil, all of which have rejected the Ecua-
able under international law. Additionally, it dorean judgment against Chevron.
rejected the underlying environmental allega- Likewise, a US court ruled in 2015 that the
tions against Chevron. judgment against Chevron had been the result
The District Court of The Hague upheld that of fraud.
award in full last week, saying: “[The] fraudulent At that time, US Judge Lewis Kaplan said
character of the Lago Agrio judgement and the that American lawyer Stephen Donziger had
proceedings preceding it is common ground used “corrupt means” to help villagers from the
between the parties.” Lago Agrio area win the $18bn judgment – later
The Dutch court also concluded that the reduced to $9.5bn – against Chevron in Ecuador
international tribunal’s orders properly sought in 2011.
to “remove the consequences of a fraudulent The allegations of environmental damage
judgment that was rendered by a corrupt judge.” related to actions taken by the US giant Texaco,
It added: “[Because] none of the setting aside which was acquired by Chevron in 2001, over a
grounds brought forward by Ecuador succeed, nearly 30-year period between 1964 and 1990.
the claims will be denied.” In 1993, around 30,000 local residents, includ-
The new ruling is in line with decisions made ing several Amazonian indigenous communi-
by other courts in Canada, Gibraltar, Argentina ties, filed suit against Texaco. ™

Ecuador planning to call tender for

Esmeraldas refinery in December

ECUADOR’S Ministry of Energy and Non-Re-
newable Resources will call a tender for the
right to operate the Esmeraldas refinery in late
December.
The ministry made its timeline for the bid-
ding contest public earlier this week. Poten-
tial investors will be able to submit bids from
December 22, it said, and the winner of the
tender will be announced on February 12, 2021.
The top bidder will have the right to negotiate Processing and storage facilities at the Esmeraldas refinery (Photo: Morelco)
an operating contract with a term of 25 years.
Under the contract, the operator will continue refined fuels to PetroEcuador, which will pay a
to take delivery of feedstock for the refinery, per-barrel fee.
which has a throughput capacity of 110,000 The winning bidder will also be obligated to
barrels per day (bpd), from PetroEcuador, the spend around $2.4bn on modernisation projects
national oil company (NOC). It will then deliver at the refinery.

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 38 24•September•2020