ICSID gives verdict against Ecuador

Over the violation of a bilateral investment agreement and “illegally expropriating” what was done in blocks 7 and 21 in an area of the Amazon, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) gave verdict against Ecuador, welcoming a lawsuit filed by the oil company Burlington.

Burlington Oil Company in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

The company had launched in 2008 an international arbitration because it believed as illegal the Ecuadorian government’s decision, in the sense of reforming the Hydrocarbons Law and regulating profits generated by rising oil prices. The oil company then said the principle of legal certainty had been broken and froze the exploitation of Blocks 7 and 21.

The ICSID, according to a report from EFE, will resolve at a later stage, the compensation issue to be paid by the government of Ecuador.