News Releases & Statements
January 10, 2008
Chevron Rejects Accusations that Claim the Company Operated Outside the Consortium Area
In media declarations made in these past few days, and today confirmed in a press conference and through its corresponding press release, spokespersons of the Amazon Defense Front (FDA) once again have attempted to turn the attention away from the lawsuit being heard in Lago Agrio, in order to surprise the Court and the Ecuadorian people. This is a new element in the judicial fraud that plaintiffs’ attorneys and plaintiffs’ spokespersons are attempting to perpetrate in this case.
In effect, the FDA boldly affirms Texaco illegally explored and drilled at least 75 wells in areas licensed to third companies. Such affirmation is totally false and the FDA and its spokespersons, -in absolute bad faith-, choose to ignore that, following an authorization of the Ministry of Oil and Mines and according to what the law prescribed, through a Ministerial Agreement 844 published in Official Gazette No. 655 of December 27, 1965, a 650,000 hectares area that was transferred by Minas y Petróleos del Ecuador, should be added to the concessions granted by the National Government to Texaco and Gulf. This is precisely the area where these wells allegedly drilled in an illegal manner by Texaco are located, and because of ignorance or bad faith, the FDA is trying to make them appear as fields foreign to the Consortium or derived from private agreements.
Both the original concessions granted to the Consortium, as well as the area received through this transfer authorized by the Ecuadorian Government, were consolidated in 1973 through an agreement signed in compliance with Decree No. 925, published in Official Gazette No. 370 of August 16, 1973.
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