Big oil meetings draw activists

By Braden Reddall and Anna Driver

SAN RAMON, Calif./DALLAS (Reuters) - Chevron Corp (CVX.N) investors rejected a call for a report on environmental laws where it operates, disappointing activists and funds worried by a $27 billion (17 billion pounds) damages claim against it in Ecuador.

The closely watched proposal at its annual meeting on Wednesday, for a report on how regulations in host countries protect people and the environment, won the support of 7 percent of shareholders, according to preliminary results from Chevron.

While activists addressed management and shareholders at the meeting at Chevron's headquarters in San Ramon, California, about five or six dozen people gathered outside to protest.

A few held up a large sign picturing Chief Executive David O'Reilly next to the words "I will pretend to care about the environment," in the style of a Chevron advertising campaign.

Larger rival Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) remains a favourite target of environmentalists and politicians, but a drop in oil prices in the past year muted dissent at its meeting in Texas.

Chevron faces the massive claim over pollution in Ecuador, with a ruling due this year, and that was one issue cited by the mostly state and municipal funds in the rejected proposal.

Chevron, which says votes on similar issues at past meetings got support of 8 percent to 10 percent, had criticized 'Item 10' as part of a campaign led by trial lawyers to force the company to settle the Ecuador case.

Plaintiffs in the case, now a decade and a half old, say Texaco -- bought by Chevron in 2001 -- damaged their health by dumping billions of gallons of dirty water from 1972 to 1992.