Chevron Agrees to $30 Million Settlement Over Saddam Kickbacks

Protesters camp outside of Chevron's corporate headquarters in San Ramon, CA.

November 14, 2007 —

Chevron Corporation will pay $30 million to settle a fraud lawsuit stemming from its role in the Iraq oil-for-food scandal. The U.S. attorney's office had alleged that Chevron paid bribes and kickbacks to Saddam Hussein's regime in exchange for oil it purchased through the program. Chevron is one of four foreign oil companies who now stand to profit most from the overthrow of Saddam, thanks to a series of controversial production sharing agreements forged with the new government.

In recent months, we've posted about Chevron's refusal to cut business ties with the Burmese military junta, a regime that has been making headlines for its brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and pro-democracy activists. The company continues to maintain its interest in Burma, but congress may act to force its hand in the matter.

Chevron is also fighting series of lawsuits stemming from the dumping of 18 billion gallons of toxic wastewater into the Amazon rain forest between the 1960s and 1990s. It is trying to avoid having to pay cleanup costs estimated at $10 billion.

It's probably true that there will never be such a thing as a good oil company. In recent years though, Chevron has been the worst and should be avoided.