Judge Declines to Stay Arbitration in Chevron-Ecuador Case

On Thursday, a U.S. judge granted Chevron’s motion to dismiss the government of Ecuador’s attempt to block the company’s international arbitration claim from proceeding. In his decision, Judge Sand declined to stay international arbitration in a dispute between Ecuador’s government and Chevron. Stating in his ruling that, “a stay of arbitration is inappropriate.”

Chevron is pleased that the Bilateral Investment Treaty arbitration can proceed.  Chevron is seeking to hold Ecuador and its government owned oil company, Petroecuador, to the promise they made to complete the environmental cleanup of the Amazon.

Texaco Petroleum did its share of the cleanup as promised, and Petroecuador now needs to own up to its promises and address the environmental problems wrongly being blamed on Chevron.

Only the international arbitration panel can bring Ecuador to the table and compel Petroecuador to do the right thing and clean up its oil fields. With today’s decision, we are one step closer to making that a reality.

Share