`Chevron out of Brazil if it fails to comply with agreement’
December 5th, 2011 - 11:56 am ICT by IANSBrasilia, Dec 5 (IANS/EFE) US-based Chevron Corp. will have to leave Brazil if it fails to comply with the agreement it reached to deal with the damage caused by an oil spill last month off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, Energy and Mines Minister Edison Lobao said.
“The company has already been given a very strong penalty for what it did and it has been suspended from engaging in new drilling in Brazil, even if it is the second-largest oil company in the world,” Lobao told reporters in Teresina, the capital of the northeastern state of Piaui.
Chevron must pay a fine of 50 million reais (about $28 million) levied by officials and take responsibility for the environmental damage caused by the spill, whose extent has still not been determined, the energy minister said.
“We are extremely aware in the sense of ensuring that (Chevron) fulfills its role and obligations because if not it will be expelled from Brazil,” Lobao said.
The spill began Nov 8 at an appraisal well in the offshore Campos basin due to an “unexpected pressure spike or ‘kick’” during “drilling toward a targeted reservoir”, Chevron said in its preliminary assessment of the incident.
The San Ramon, California-based company estimates that a total of 2,400 barrels of crude leaked from the well, although Rio de Janeiro state officials say close to 15,000 barrels were spilled.
The company dispersed or recovered the majority of the crude that rose to the surface and the oil sheen, located some 120 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, has almost completely dissipated.
Chevron Brasil Upstream Frade Ltda., a Chevron Corp. subsidiary, is the lead operator in the Frade field with a 51.7 percent stake.
Brazilian state oil giant Petrobras has a 30 percent interest in the project and the Frade Japao Petroleo Ltda. consortium controls the remaining stake.
A Greenpeace report whose results were published in the press Sunday, meanwhile, said the vast oil reserves discovered in the Atlantic would make Brazil one of the world’s top polluters.
“Brazil, which holds the sixth position, would become the third-biggest among the world’s polluters, behind the United States and China,” the environmental group said.
–IANS/EFE
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- Brazil suspends Chevron drilling rights after spill - Nov 24, 2011
- Chevron to cap, abandon leaking Brazil oil well - Nov 16, 2011
- Petrobras reports gas leak at drilling platform - Nov 28, 2011
- Greenpeace protests Chevron oil spill off Brazil - Nov 19, 2011
- Brazilian police question Chevron's oil clean-up - Nov 21, 2011
- Chevron faces $25 mn fine for Brazil oil spill - Jul 20, 2012
- Chevron detects new oil leak in Brazil - Mar 17, 2012
- Brazil calls on oil firms to operate responsibly - Mar 22, 2012
- Brazil seeking $10 bn from Chevron for oil spill - Dec 16, 2011
- Brazilian officials probe oil found on beach - Dec 20, 2011
- Brazil to impose more fines on Chevron for oil spill - Nov 30, 2011
- Brazil reduces Chevron fine for oil spill - Sep 18, 2012
- Brazilian oil giant makes new deep-water find - Jul 13, 2012
- Brazil to auction new oil blocks in 2013 - Sep 20, 2012
- Brazil fines Chevron for oil spill - Nov 22, 2011
Tags: brazilian state, campos basin, chevron corp, company estimates, energy minister, environmental damage, frade, greenpeace report, lead operator, lobao, northeastern state, oil giant, oil reserves, oil sheen, oil spill, rio de janeiro, san ramon california, state energy, state oil, unexpected pressure