Chevron gets billionaire fine in Ecuador

U.S. oil giant Chevron was fined more than US$ 8 billion Monday in Ecuador, after a local judge ruled a 18-year-old lawsuit over oil-field contamination in the Amazon forest. The company bought in 2001 fellow oil producer Texaco, which drilled for oil in the Oriente, a corner of northeastern Ecuador, from 1964 to 1992, teaming up with state-owned Petroecuador. As part of its operations, Texaco dumped a mixture of petroleum and water into open pits near the oil wells. When Texaco pulled out of the country, it agreed to clean up a portion of the wells, while Petroecuador continued to operate the rest.

Chevron says it fulfilled its cleanup obligations under the agreement with the Ecuadoran government. Any remaining pollution, according to the company, is Petroecuador's fault. The plaintiffs counter that Texaco designed the oil field's operations, making the company liable for contamination, and that the U.S. company did little more than dumping dirt on open pits.

Yesterday’s decision, however, is not the end of the marathon court case as Chevron, which has won rulings in courts outside of Ecuador, said it will block, at least temporarily, the enforcement of Monday's judgment. The oil tycoon has argued for years that the lawsuit was tainted by fraud and political interference.