Ecuador rejects ruling awarding $700M to Chevron

QUITO, Ecuador

Ecuadorean officials are rejecting an international arbitration tribunal's ruling that it violated international law and must pay $700 million to the Chevron Corp.

President Rafael Correa's administration is analyzing options for appeal under national and international law, Attorney General Diego Garcia said in a statement Wednesday.

"This new effort to compromise the Ecuadorean state in its firm commitment to respect the independence of its judicial system ... will not succeed," Garcia said.

Chevron announced the tribunal's decision on Tuesday, saying the arbitration panel decided that Ecuador's courts violated international law by delaying rulings on certain disputes between the company and the Ecuadorean government.

The award partially resolves seven commercial claims that Texaco, which is now a Chevron unit, made in Ecuador from 1991 to 1993 alleging that the government was selling company oil intended for domestic use in international markets. Texaco was acquired by the San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corp. in 2001.

The ruling announced Tuesday is not related to and does not affect claims against Chevron by residents of the Amazon jungle in Ecuador. They are seeking $27 billion in damages for rain-forest pollution allegedly caused by oil-drilling operations.