Ecuador Court Increases Chevron Damages Bill to $19.02B

by Dow Jones Newswires

Mercedes Alvaro

Friday, July 27, 2012

QUITO - An Ecuadorian judge has ruled that Chevron Corp. must pay $19.02 billion in environmental damages stemming from its operations in Ecuador.

The amount is higher than an original damage ruling issued last February and ratified in January, which ordered the U.S. company to pay about $18.2 billion, holding it responsible for environmental and punitive damages related to oil operations in the Andean country's Amazon region.

In an official court document issued Monday and reviewed late Thursday by Dow Jones Newswires, Judge Lilia Ortiz said the $19.02 billion includes about $1.7 billion for the Amazon Defense Front, a coalition formed by the plaintiffs, and $8.6 billion because Chevron didn't apologize .

Chevron representatives were not immediately available for comment. It has previously denied responsibility for the claims.

Representatives of Ecuadorian indigenous groups are seeking compensation from Chevron for contamination of their land as a result of Texaco's operations in the country. Chevron inherited the lawsuit in 2001 when it acquired Texaco, which had operations in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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Forrest A Brown | Jul. 29, 2012

Yes we can see that Texico paid the bill before they left the country then a company with deeper pockets cam in and the suite starts all over again. and if you look then fine is more then the countries GDP and Budget so they want to be able to ride on the coattails of a company that is investing money in there on back yard. All US oil companies should pull out of the south and drill only in the US and then let the countries try to sue china or Russia for spills or damages that would eb a joke

thomas pruett | Jul. 28, 2012

If damage is real they should compensate but if it is not then this legal move against an energy creator is the beginning of the end of sharing in the benefits of the world energy by Ecuador in the long pull. Their claims must be real! tp

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