Over 25 years ago, Texaco Petroleum (“TexPet”) operated a consortium along with an Ecuadorian state-owned company, Petroecuador. In connection with its exit from that country in 1992, TexPet entered into a number of Settlement-and-Release Agreements with the government of Ecuador, under which the government agreed to release TexPet from all liability for various environmental claims in exchange for TexPet’s remediation of the area. TexPet funded the remediation, which the government of Ecuador supervised and confirmed in a 1998 release agreement. [Petroecuador continued, however, to operate and exploit the area, likely causing the environmental troubles that remain.] Notwithstanding these agreements, in May 2003 a group of individuals in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, sued Chevron (the acquirer of TexPet) for damage allegedly caused by TexPet. Read more>>
