Ecuador Delays Picking Arbitrator In Chevron Case
By Mercedes Alvaro, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
QUITO -(Dow Jones)- Despite a looming deadline, Ecuador hasn't chosen an
arbitrator for the claim that Chevron Corp. (CVX) filed last month against it
with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, and will take some time to
appoint a representative.
"The deadline to appoint our representative is today. We are analyzing names
and the process could take some weeks," a high government official told Dow
Jones Newswires Thursday.
On Sept. 23, Chevron filed an international arbitration claim against the
South American country's government, citing violations of Ecuador's obligations
under the U.S.-Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty, investment agreements, and
international law.
The oil giant claims that Ecuador should be held responsible for the damages
the company faces in a $27 billion lawsuit over alleged environmental damages in
that country's Amazon region in the early 1990s.
The company has denied the allegations, and says that Ecuador's government at
the time released the company from any responsibility.
Under rules of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, Ecuador and Chevron should
each pick an arbitrator. The two appointees then agree on a third panel member.
Chevron chose Horacio Grigera Naon, director of the Center on International
Commercial Arbitration at American University's Washington College of Law.
According to rules of the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law, or
Uncitral, if Ecuador doesn't name its representative for the process, Chevron
can request the Court of the Hague make the appointment. However, the government
official said that Ecuador doesn't expect the court to name an arbitrator.
"Ecuador will name (an arbitrator), but it will take some time."
Local analysts say that Ecuador's tardiness allows it to lengthen the
arbitration process.
-By Mercedes Alvaro, Dow Jones Newswires; 5939-9728-653; mercedes.alvaro@
dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-22-091604ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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