Texaco merged with Chevron in 2001 and operated in Ecuador from 1964 until 1990, leaving behind hundreds of open toxic waste pits in the Amazon region. In 1993, over 30,000 residents of the zone filed a lawsuit against the company, accusing it of having deliberately dumped more than 70 billion liters of toxic waste and spilled roughly 65 million liters crude oil into the environment, causing what is quite likely one of the worst oil-related disasters on the planet. An independent expert appointed by the court in the ongoing trial recently deemed ChevronTexaco responsible for damage of up to 27 billion US dollars. Because most of the oil pipes in the country are over 40 years old, pipeline ruptures polluting large areas happen in the region on a daily basis. In this accident about 48,000 liters of crude oil leaked into the environment.