Ecuador: Chevron could lose up to $16 billion

A report from “independent environmental expert” said that oil firm Chevron should pay between $7 billion to $16 billion if it loses a local case. In the lawsuit originally filed by natives and peasants in 1993, Texaco (now owned by Chevron) was accused of dumping billions of gallons of contaminated water in the Amazon rain forest.

Chevron has countered against the report:

Chevron said it would ask the court to remove the report from the legal record in the case. In a prepared release, Ricardo Reis Veiga, managing counsel for Chevron Latin America, pilloried the consultant who issued the report.

"The court's appointee has knowingly violated the judge's orders and delivered a report that is biased and scientifically indefensible," Veiga said. "No legitimate court in the world would permit such a charade."

Chevron also accused Cabrera of taking too many samples from fields that were the sole responsibility of Petroecuador, not taking enough samples overall, and making other research errors.

Meanwhile, Ecuadorian officials continue renegotiating oil contracts with foreign companies like Repsol and Petrobras.

Sources- Reuters, SFGate.com, San Jose Mercury News

Image- MSNBC (“Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa surveys oil-saturated soil in the Amazon on Thursday, as workers from the state-owned company Petroecuador clean up the area.”)