ISDS Case Map
Ecuador
Showing the door to Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) and scuttling US free trade negotiations have long been agenda priorities for Ecuadorian social movements and political sectors. But following government steps that have all but made these goals a reality, the atmosphere seems more anxious than celebratory.
Ecuador will oppose an arbitration suit filed last week by Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY) with the World Bank's International Center for Investment Disputes in Washington, DC, said Ecuadorean Attorney General Jose Maria Borja.
The US-based Occidental Petroleum Company has filed an arbitration claim against Quito for canceling its exploration rights, a move that resulted in a suspension of free trade talks with Washington.
US-based Occidental Petroleum has responded swiftly to a move by the Ecuadorian Government to kick the company out of Ecuador. The firm filed a request for arbitration with the Washington-based International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) yesterday. The company's claim is expected to be for at least $1 Billion (US) in damages.
Finance Minister Diego Borja said that the US decision to break off free trade talks with Ecuador after the government canceled Occidental Petroleum Corp's (OXY) contracts was unacceptable political interference.
The Bush administration announced Tuesday it has broken off negotiations on a free trade agreement with Ecuador after that government's decision to annul an operating contract with Occidental Petroleum Corp.
Ecuadorean President Alfredo Palacio sent troops to guard oil facilities seized from Occidental Petroleum Corp. as they are transferred to state control, officials said Tuesday.
Ecuador's chief trade negotiator, Manuel Chiriboga, admitted that a huge "uncertainty" surrounds the future of the free trade negotiations with United States suspended since the end of March.
A US Embassy spokeswoman said Friday that a newly approved oil-tax law designed to cut into windfall profits of foreign oil producers, like US-based Occidental Petroleum Corp, violates a bilateral investment treaty.
The United States warned Ecuador on Thursday that a proposed free-trade agreement was at risk unless Quito acted on a growing list of investment and other concerns.
