Chevron Corp. hailed a District Court of The Hague ruling in favor of the U.S. energy supermajor in its legal battle with Ecuador, which had sought to nullify arbitral rulings handed down against the country in connection with a multi-billion-dollar pollution judgment.

“Today’s decision reinforces the integrity of the arbitral proceedings and ensures that Ecuador will be held accountable for violations of its international commitments,” the…company said in a statement…

…It noted that the arbitration court also found in February 2013 that the Ecuadorian government had violated international law by finalizing and failing to prevent enforcement of 2011 and 2012 pollution verdicts against Chevron handed down by courts in the northeastern Ecuadorian city of Lago Agrio (also known as Nueva Loja).

Ecuador’s National Court of Justice upheld that verdict in November 2013, ruling in favor of rainforest communities and ordering Chevron to pay a $9.5 billion penalty…The Ecuadorian plaintiffs have unsuccessfully sought to collect on the verdict through international legal action. [Also refers to Petroecuador]