Chevron Corporation today released the following statement from Hewitt Pate, vice president and general counsel, regarding the recent announcement by Ecuador’s state oil company, Petroecuador, that the company will complete its remediation of the sites it is responsible for under a 1995 agreement entered into with Texaco Petroleum Co. (TexPet) at the conclusion of an oil-producing consortium:
“Chevron welcomes Petroecuador’s announcement that it will remediate the remaining sites it is responsible for under the remediation agreement. Petroecuador’s $70 million remediation budget, which covers an area larger than that of TexPet’s remediation, is within a reasonable cost range under U.N. standards. This figure stands in contrast to the multi-billion dollar claim fabricated by American plaintiffs’ lawyers to extort money from Chevron through a ghost-written judgment.
“The Ecuadorian government deserves credit for taking positive steps to help the people and environment of the Oriente and to break the cycle of corruption and misinformation caused by the fraudulent case against Chevron.
“Petroecuador’s remediation should be completed without further interference, and the perpetrators of the fraudulent litigation — who have lobbied to delay the remediation — should be brought to justice. Chevron would welcome a constructive dialogue with the government of Ecuador on both topics.”
