Ecuador: Chevron loses $18bn appeal

An Ecuadorean court of appeal has upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay $18bn (£11.5bn) in damages to plaintiffs who accused Texaco, bought by the company in 2001, of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging their health.

Last February a judge ordered Chevron to pay $8.6bn in environmental damages, but that was later raised to $18bn because the company failed to make a public apology as required by the ruling.

The plaintiffs accused Texaco of dumping oil-drilling waste in unlined pits, polluting the forest and causing illness and deaths among indigenous people.

Chevron swiftly denounced the appellate court's ruling. "[The] decision is another glaring example of the politicisation and corruption of Ecuador's judiciary that has plagued this fraudulent case from the start," it said.