Chevron may rethink Ecuador strategy after US court move on Shell: analyst

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Platts

Chevron may rethink Ecuador strategy after US court move on Shell: analyst
New York (Platts)--18Oct2011/535 pm EDT/2135 GMT

Chevron likely wants a resolution in the ongoing legal dispute over the former Texaco assets in Ecuador, Oppenheimer analyst Fadel Gheit said Tuesday, adding that Monday's US Supreme Court agreeing to hear a case charging Shell for human rights violations in Nigeria could hold implications for Chevron.

"The legal team at Chevron will rethink their position" after the Supreme Court said it would hear the Shell case, Gheit said in a phone interview.

"If you open the case for Shell, you have to open it for Ecuador," Gheit said. Gheit wants Chevron to reach a settlement in the Ecuador case because the dispute has become a "distraction" to the company.

The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Shell can be held liable for acts of torture and other human rights violations in Nigeria in the 1990s. The court agreed to hear an appeal of a case brought by 12 Nigerian plaintiffs who allege Shell should be held responsible for violence against people who opposed oil exploration in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.


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[msongs]

1. American oil corporations would rather not be held accountable for anything, thank you very much nt