Brazil Plans Charges Against Chevron Execs
The filing in federal court in Campos, Brazil, is likely to include a request for criminal indictment of George Buck, CEO of San Ramon-based Chevron's Brazil unit, as well as other staff, three Brazilian government officials involved in the case told Reuters.
Transocean, whose rig was used in the operation, and some of its employees in Brazil are also expected to be charged, according to the officials, who requested anonymity because the case has not been presented to a judge. It is up to a judge to determine whether to accept the charges and proceed with indictments.
Brazilian prosecutors have become more active in going after alleged polluters, sometimes bringing aggressive charges to encourage offenders to settle cases. They are moving far more swiftly than their U.S. counterparts: BP's 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico, more than 1,000 times larger in terms of oil, has not yet resulted in any criminal charges.
In Brazil, charges in cases such as these can take a decade before all appeals are exhausted. That could saddle Chevron and Transocean with years of costly litigation, said Paulo Augusto Silva Novaes, a lawyer with the Rio de Janeiro firm of Benjo, Garcia, Souto & Novaes.
On 7th November 2011, a Chevron well drilled using a Transocean rig 73 miles from the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, experienced a pressure "kick" after tapping into an oil reservoir in Frade. An emergency blowout preventer was activated, plugging the well 3,937 feet below the ocean surface. Chevron discovered however oil seeps from the sea floor hundreds of meters from the plugged well. Pressure caused a breach of the well wall far beneath the seabed, allowing oil to infiltrate surrounding rock and work its way into the ocean, Chevron said.
