QUITO -(Dow Jones)- The final hearing in the $3.2 billion arbitration case filed against Ecuador by U.S. oil company Occidental Petroleum Corp. (OXY) will be held Thursday, in London, Ecuador's attorney general said Wednesday. Occidental filed the lawsuit for damages for Ecuador's May 2006 decision to cancel the company's operating contract. Ecuador alleged that Occidental broke several of its terms by transferring a 40% stake in its Ecuadorian projects to Canada's Encana Corp. (ECA, ECA.T) without the approval of Ecuador's Energy Ministry. In a press release, Attorney General Diego Garcia said Ecuador hopes the court will reject the company's lawsuit. Occidental filed the claim with the World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, in July 2006. Occidental has said that the Ecuadorian government violated the U.S.-Ecuador bilateral investment treaty by illegally nullifying its exploration rights and by expropriating its assets. The Ecuadorian government, meanwhile, said it has followed the law and all contracts with the U.S company. -By Mercedes Alvaro, Dow Jones Newswires; 5939-9728-653; mercedes.alvaro@dowjones.com
