Eleven years ago, the transnational oil company Chevron, formerly Texaco, received a historic sentence in Ecuador. It was forced by the justice of that country to pay a compensation of 9.5 billion dollars for the damages caused to indigenous communities and settlers in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos in the Amazon region. This lawsuit was filed by the Union of…
On 7 April, 2020, the foundation and pipelines of the Trans-Ecuadorian Oil Pipeline System (SOTE) and the Heavy Oils Pipeline (OCP) collapsed, causing a huge oil spill on the waters of the Coca River, which rapidly reached the Napo River. Both rivers are part of the Amazonas River Basin, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. This polluted the water, land,…
On 20 April, the world woke up to a historical drop in the price of oil in the United States. The reference value for crude oil in the US (WTI) reached negative numbers for the first time in history. Argentina’s Southern Oil Observatory (Opsur) issued a press release, stating: “Press and social media are filled with technical explanations, when the…
