Policy, Government and Public Affairs

Chevron Corporation
P.O. Box 6078
San Ramon, CA 94583-0778
www.chevron.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Plaintiffs’ Expert Reveals Fraud by Lawyers in Ecuador Lawsuit

In Sworn Deposition, Expert Denies Authoring Reports Submitted in His Name

SAN RAMON, Calif., Apr. 5, 2010 – Lawyers for the plaintiffs suing Chevron Corp. (NYSE:
CVX) submitted fraudulent reports to an Ecuadorian court claiming dangerous contamination was found
at Amazon oil well sites, the original technical expert for the plaintiffs revealed in sworn testimony last
week.
Charles W. Calmbacher, Ph.D, a U.S. biologist and industrial hygienist who was the first expert
appointed on behalf of the plaintiffs in the litigation pending against Chevron in Lago Agrio, Ecuador,
testified in a court-ordered deposition last week that reports associated with inspections of the Sacha 94
and Shushufindi 48 well sites were submitted in his name without his knowledge or consent. Dr.
Calmbacher said he had never concluded the sites posed a risk to human health or the environment and
that his opinions were known to the plaintiffs’ legal and technical teams in Ecuador. Nevertheless, the
plaintiffs’ lawyers submitted reports contradictory to Dr. Calmbacher’s conclusions, fraudulently using
his signature months after he ceased his participation in the case.
“Their own expert has testified that two of the plaintiffs’ earliest reports are fraudulent,
confirming that the trial in Ecuador has been tainted from the outset,” said Hewitt Pate, Chevron vice
president and general counsel. “Chevron will petition the Lago Agrio court to strike the plaintiffs’ false
Sacha 94 and Shushufindi 48 reports and call on authorities to investigate the misconduct.”
After the lawsuit was filed against Chevron in 2003, the plaintiffs’ lawyers nominated Dr.
Calmbacher, and the court appointed him to conduct judicial inspections of oil well sites in the former
Petroecuador-Texaco Petroleum Co. concession area to assess alleged environmental damage. Dr.
Calmbacher led those inspections for the plaintiffs, supervising the taking of soil and water samples, from
August to October 2004.
The fraudulent reports were filed in February and March 2005, and later used by Lago Agrio
court appointee Richard Cabrera in his $27 billion damage assessment against Chevron. Cabrera never
investigated Sacha 94 or Shushufindi 48, yet specified more than $101 million damages based on the
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fabricated findings. Dr. Calmbacher also inspected Sacha 6 and Sacha 21, yet the plaintiffs’ lawyers
failed to submit reports containing his conclusions regarding those well sites. Dr. Calmbacher testified
that he did not find a risk to human health or the environment, or a need for further clean-up, at any of the
Texaco Petroleum-remediated sites he inspected. He also said he never concluded that Texaco
Petroleum’s remediation in Ecuador in the 1990’s was not successful.
In his March 29 deposition ordered by a U.S. federal court, Dr. Calmbacher said he sent signed
signature pages and initialized blank pages to the plaintiffs’ legal team by overnight courier in late 2004
for the submission of reports he thought would contain his true findings. Dr. Calmbacher also testified
that the plaintiffs’ lawyers never informed him that the Lago Agrio court had ordered him to answer
questions on the reports after they were submitted under his signature in 2005.
Chevron has long claimed the lawsuit is baseless and tainted by scores of irregularities and fraud.
The company last September filed a demand for arbitration with the Permanent Court of Arbitration at
The Hague asserting that Ecuador’s handling of the Lago Agrio litigation amounts to a breach of the U.S.-
Ecuador Bilateral Investment Treaty.
To view Dr. Calmbacher’s full sworn deposition, see www.chevron.com/ecuador/depo.pdf.
Additional information on the Ecuador lawsuit can be found at www.chevron.com/ecuador.
Chevron is one of the world’s leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct
business worldwide. The company’s success is driven by the ingenuity and commitment of its employees
and their application of the most innovative technologies in the world. Chevron is involved in virtually
every facet of the energy industry. The company explores for, produces and transports crude oil and
natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and other energy products; manufactures
and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy
efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based
in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.
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Contact: Kent Robertson -- +1 925-842-1695