We represented Occidental in its multibillion-dollar dispute against Ecuador arising out of Ecuador’s expropriation of Occidental’s interests in Block 15 in the Ecuadorian Amazon region. The ICSID tribunal accepted our international law argument of proportionality and in a milestone decision unanimously found that by imposing a disproportionate sanction, Ecuador unlawfully expropriated its interest. The tribunal also refused to reduce Occidental’s quantum on account of the windfall profit tax law that Ecuador had enacted shortly before the expropriation. Ecuador sought to annul the final award, but the annulment committee appointed by ICSID upheld the tribunal’s findings, reducing quantum only on account of the 40% economic interest held by a third-party farmee.
16 December 2015