Chevron has never conducted oil production operations in Ecuador. Its subsidiary Texaco Petroleum Co. (TexPet) did operate in Ecuador, mostly in minority partnership with Ecuador’s state oil company, Petroecuador, which owned 62.5 percent. TexPet left Ecuador in 1992, and at that time it fully remediated its share of environmental impacts arising from oil production. The $40 million remediation operation was certified by all agencies of the Ecuadorian government responsible for oversight, and TexPet received a complete release from Ecuador’s national, provincial and municipal governments. Chevron acquired TexPet in 2001. For more than two decades, Petroecuador has been the sole owner of the operations TexPet left behind, and the state oil company has greatly expanded them. Petroecuador has been slow to remediate its majority share of pre-1992 impacts and has amassed a poor environmental record since that time. All remaining environmental conditions in the region are the sole legal responsibility of Petroecuador, and in December 2011, Petroecuador announced a $70 million remediation program that would address the balance of the necessary clean-up.
The Government of Ecuador granted Texaco a full “release from obligations, liabilities and claims” in 1998.
TexPet’s government approved cleanup
After TexPet ceased operations in Ecuador, pursuant to an agreement with the Republic, it fully remediated its share of production sites. The sites that TexPet was to remediate were negotiated and agreed to by the Republic of Ecuador. After the remediation was complete, it was certified by the government and state oil company Petroecuador, and TexPet exited the country with a full release by the Republic of Ecuador from further environmental liability.
Junk science
Despite the fact that all of his scientific and environmental experts have sworn under oath that there is no evidence to support his claims against Chevron, Steven Donziger and his team resort to junk science to distract attention from their fraudulent activities.
Petroecuador’s terrible environmental record
Petroecuador has been the sole operator of former consortium facilities since 1990. During the past 24 years of Petroecuador operations, Ecuador has drilled more than 700 new oil wells, dug and buried thousands of unlined pits for oil wastes, and spilled more than 125,000 barrels of oil in the Amazon region. Petroecuador has to this day failed to clean up its share of the oil operations.
Learn more about Texaco in Ecuador.
Detailed History of Texaco in Ecuador
Texaco operated in Ecuador from 1964 through 1992. Learn more about how Texaco cleaned up its sites and received a full release of liability from the Ecuadorian government.
Interactive Video Timeline
View significant milestones.