He told a press conference that Ecuador had exhausted all appeals before a court of arbitration in London and that the refund would come out of ordinary budget funds.
"It is incumbent on us to pay and we are analyzing the best time," Ortiz said, adding that while government accountants are still working to determine the amount of the compensation, he was confident the figure would not exceed $160 million.
Oxy had originally demanded $75 million when it took Quito to the London court in 2004 for having excluded the California firm from a VAT-refund scheme aimed at attracting investment in the oil industry.
Ecuador will now have to hand over the $75 million plus interest.
Not long after the tax dispute began, the Ecuadorian government challenged Oxy for having transferred 40 percent of its assets in the Andean nation to a Canadian company without informing authorities, as required by the firm's contract with Quito.
In 2006, Ecuador canceled Oxy's concession for Block 15 in the country's Amazon region, setting off another legal battle that is now before the World Bank's International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
Occidental is asking the Washington-based body to award the oil company up to $1 billion in compensation for Ecuador's action.
Separately, Ecuador's minister of mines and petroleum announced Wednesday the signing of contracts with two international consortiums to boost production at marginal wells in three oilfields.
Galo Chiriboga said that Consorcio Petrolero Amazonico and Consorcio Petrolero Pegaso, each comprising Ecuadorian, Colombia, Venezuelan and U.S. firms, would be investing a total of $108 million in the project.
State-owned PetroEcuador will receive most of the increased output from the marginal wells, the minister said.
Ecuador exports just over 500,000 barrels of oil per day and relies on petroleum revenues to fund 35 percent of government spending. EFE
cho/dr
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