San Francisco Sentinel – ECUADOR’S PRESIDENT CORREA: IF YOU DON’T PAY ECUADOR MONEY, WE WILL KILL THE AMAZON

Friday, January 15th 2010

“Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa has threatened to drill for oil in one of the most biologically important and pristine areas of the Amazon River.

Fander Falconi, the country’s foreign minister, resigned yesterday after President Correa criticized his handling of negotiations to wrestle money from foreign governments interested in preserving a swath of virgin forests along the Amazon River.”
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SFGate.com – Ecuador one contract away from owning oil production and profits

Thursday, June 24th 2010

Another post on Amazon Watch and the Chevron Ecuador case: While Amazon Watch and Steven Donziger yell and scream about American Chevron in an attempt to extort billions while claiming to represent Ecuador's "indigenous people," Ecuador President Rafael Correa is just one signed contract away from that country successfully nationalizing revenue from its oil industry. Read More »

SFGate.com – Amazon Watch is afraid to sue Ecuador

Thursday, June 24th 2010

This new blog post on the San Francisco Chronicle's website discusses Steven Donziger's role in the trial in Ecuador and the fabricated "independent court expert" report: In the never-ending Chevron Ecuador legal battle, Laywer Steven Donziger (the head of a decade-long battle to extort billions from Chevron for environmental damage caused by the Ecuador-owned Petroecuador and Ecuador President Rafael Correa's policy of allowing oil production in the Amazon, while having kicked out American oil companies) and the Amazon Watch organization yesterday called for additional damages against Chevron in Ecuador, citing alleged sabotage of the court proceedings by Chevron. Read More »

FDI Magazine – Will treaty save Chevron in Amazon rain forest dispute?

Friday, June 11th 2010

Chevron Ecuador case is profiled: After years of litigation over its liability for environmental damage in the Amazon rain forest, the Chevron Corporation is going all-in in its fight with Ecuador by seeking to persuade a panel of international arbitrators that the country’s courts cannot be trusted to dispense justice for foreign investors. Last September, the US oil giant filed a claim for ‘denial of justice’ under a foreign investment protection treaty between the US and Ecuador. The claim is now a major part of the company’s damage-control strategy. Chevron has been readying itself for some time for a massive loss in the Ecuadorian courts, where plaintiffs are seeking to saddle the firm with a $30bn clean-up bill. Chevron insists that Ecuador’s state oil company, PetroEcuador, bears liability for any clean-up, adding that the country’s politically tainted courts are colluding with PetroEcuador and the country’s government to lay the blame at Chevron’s door. Read More »

Reuters – Ecuador says to start oil contract talks in August

Friday, July 30th 2010

Ecuador will begin in August the contract talks with foreign oil companies operating in the country: Ecuador will begin negotiating with oil majors in August new contracts to favor the state, Non-Renewable Resources Minister Wilson Pastor said on Thursday, setting the clock ticking for firms in the OPEC nation. Read More »

Dow Jones – Ecuador To Submit New Model Oil Contract To Companies Friday

Friday, July 30th 2010

Ecuador is planning to show new draft contracts to oil companies operating in the country: Ecuador's government plans to submit to private oil companies on Friday the model contract that will be used to exchange current production-sharing deals for service contracts. Negotiations with each company will start in the second week of August, the country's minister for non-renewable natural resources said Thursday. Read More »

Dow Jones – Minister: Ecuador To Decide Fate Of Noble Unit’s Contract By Nov

Friday, July 30th 2010

Ecuador will decide on a contract with a subsidiary of a U.S. based oil company: Ecuador will decide by November whether to continue the contract of Energy Development Corp., or EDC, a subsidiary of U.S.-based oil and gas producer Noble Energy Inc. (NBL), the country's minister for non-renewable natural resources told Dow Jones Newswires. Read More »