Ecuador will make a $1 billion payment to American oil giant Occidental Petroleum by April, in keeping with a decision from a World Bank arbitration panel, President Rafael Correa said, AFP reported. The International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes initially ordered Ecuador to pay the company, known as Oxy, $1.77 billion plus interest in the 2012 ruling. Correa in his weekly media address said that his government had managed to negotiate the sum down significantly, first to $1.4 billion, then eventually even somewhat lower. “The award was $1.4 billion. We will pay roughly $980 million. The reduction is 420 million,” he said. Occidental, also known as Oxy, says Ecuador violated a bilateral investment treaty with the United States. The leftist Correa originally sought to have the ruling annulled, saying the government was within its rights to cancel the contract because Oxy sold a 40% stake in the company to Canadian firm Encana in 2000 without its authorization.
