Lago Agrio oil field US attorney, Steven Donziger, had used "corrupt means," including payment of almost US$300,000 in bribes, to obtain the 2011 court verdict in Ecuador. The judge did not rule on the underlying issue of environmental damages. While the US ruling does not affect the decision of the court in Ecuador, it has blocked efforts to collect damages from Chevron in US courts. Donziger and the two Ecuadorian defendants appealed, and on August 8, 2016, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the district court's judgment against them in all respects. In September 2018, the District of Columbia
Oil shale in Israel company envisioned bringing bitumen by pipeline from the Ashdod refinery and returning product along the same corridor. However, the plan was not implemented, and Hom Tov subsequently ceased to operate. In July 2011, Israel Energy Initiatives, a subsidiary of Genie Energy, received a one-year extension of its three year exclusive license to explore oil shale resources on in Israel's Shfela region. The project is suspended. In May 2011, the Russian energy company Inter RAO announced that it had received a license to develop oil shale resources in the Negev desert. The company was said to be planning an oil extraction