Occidental (Petroleum) seeking 1 billion dollars from Ecuador (AFP)

[Up2Late]

(This article, which is about the actions of Occidental Petroleum, only give half of the story, this is the latests of a long running dispute with Ecuador, who claims Occidental owes about $1 Billion Dollars in un-paid taxes. Here's a link to a BBC News story that has more details: <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4988624.stm> )

Occidental seeking 1 billion dollars from Ecuador

18/05/2006 21h40

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Occidental Petroleum has filed an arbitration claim against Ecuador for cancelling its oil exploration rights, a move that has soured relations with Washington. The claim, filed Wednesday with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington, says the damages "will exceed one billion dollars," according to the complaint.

The petition bases its claims on protections the company says are included in the US-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty. It follows Ecuador's move on Monday to cancel the California-based company's rights to an oil field in the Amazon basin region and take control of its production infrastructure.

The firm, also known as Oxy, said in a statement that it wants the arbitration panel to "order interim relief by restoring its rights in Ecuador and preventing Ecuador from replacing Occidental with another third-party operator ... until its claims can be decided, a process that could take well over a year...."

(clip)

...The bad blood began in 2004, when Oxy "prevailed, by unanimous decision of an international arbitration panel, in a legal dispute over tax refunds" that Ecuador had "wrongfully withheld."

(more at link)

<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060518213844.89ldnc33.html>

[Robbien]

1. Ecuador is right. The US is using blackmail

The US is saying no free trade deal unless the dispute between Ecuador and a oil company is settled in the oil company's favor.

Good. I hope this kills the FTA with Ecuador.

[Vidar]

3. Go for free trade with Europe--that's usually mutually beneficial.

[Up2Late]

2. kick n/t

:kick:

[dipsydoodle]

4. I'd anticipate that the government of Equador

will simply tell them to whistle as in "you put your lips together and blow"

[GliderGuider]

5. Having just finished "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"

You can't imagine how happy this makes me.

South America has been the target of American-led economic imperialism for far too long. It's nice to see them getting some solidarity and telling American interests to go pound salt. This is the one silver lining in the Iraq cloud - it's kept the forces of hegemony otherwise occupied for long enough to give the South Americans the opportunity to get organized.

[Judi Lynn]

6. LA Times story (California being the home base of Occidental.....)

Oxy Calls Seizure by Ecuador Retaliation, Denies Allegation
By Elizabeth Douglass, Times Staff Writer
May 19, 2006


Occidental Petroleum Corp. fired back at Ecuadorean officials, accusing them of bowing to "nationalist fervor" and seizing the company's oil operations as revenge for losing a tax case to Occidental.

In a complaint filed Wednesday but made public Thursday, Occidental asked the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes to immediately restore the oil company's Ecuadorean production contract and to halt government moves to bring in a new operator.

"This dispute results from a transparent attempt by to eviscerate and ultimately repudiate an investment agreement worth well in excess of $1 billion in retaliation" for Occidental's July 2004 victory over Ecuador in a $75-million tax arbitration, the company said in its mediation request.

Westwood-based Occidental added that officials of the South American nation ousted the oil company "in the midst of a wave of nationalist fervor" that included anti-Occidental protests and threats of criminal charges aimed at anyone who questioned the takeover.

Ecuador, however, said Occidental breached its oil agreement when it farmed out some production to Canada's EnCana Corp. in 2000 without the government's permission. Citing that as grounds for revoking Occidental's contract, state-run Petroecuador took over the U.S. oil company's operations Tuesday, forcing Occidental to dismiss most of its 330 employees there.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-oxy19may19,1,6315552.story?coll=la-headlines-business

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On edit:

No doubt the WORLD BANK will surely help in this dispute!

[Judi Lynn]

7. Ecuador ‘was right to revoke Occidental licence’

Ecuador ‘was right to revoke Occidental licence’
By Hal Weitzman in Quito
Published: May 21 2006 19:12 | Last updated: May 21 2006 19:12

The frontrunner in Ecuador’s presidential race has backed the government’s decision to revoke Occidental’s operating contract and seize $1bn of its assets in the Andean country, saying it was the correct response to the US oil company’s “unethical and illegal” actions.

In an interview with the Financial Times, León Roldós, usually a firm critic of President Alfredo Palacio, said the administration had acted within Ecuadorean law and dismissed as “absurd” the idea that by expelling Occidental the government had drawn closer to radical nationalist leaders in the Andes such as Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

Ecuador revoked Occidental’s operating contract last week after the energy ministry ruled that the company had improperly transferred a 40 per cent interest in its oil fields to EnCana of Canada in 2000. The government argues that this constituted a breach of contract and demanded that Occidental turn over its assets to Petroecuador, the state oil company.
(snip/...)

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/89d2a3d8-e8f3-11da-b110-0000779e2340.html

[tsuki]

11. Didn't EnCana sell its 40% to China? All without Ecuador's okay?

[bleedingheart]

8. Here is my "dream response" from Ecuador -- "Bite me"

[Toucano]

9. Eminent domain, baby.

It's not just for taking homes and businesses away from the poor, you know.

[Spazito]

10. As in most things, you reap what you sow....

and bush has breached every international treaty, international trade rules, etc, so it really doesn't matter what Oxy says or does or to whom they go crying , even if their claim is legit, which I doubt,.....like bush, Ecuador will just ignore them or should anyway.