Judge blocks bid to stop Chevron Brazil operations
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (BDCi) – A Brazilian judge denied an injunction seeking to ban oil company Chevron Corp and drill-rig operator Transocean Ltd from operating in Brazil after two offshore oil leaks, a federal court in Rio de Janeiro said on Wednesday.
The judge ruled that granting the injunction would interfere with the legal authority of the ANP, Brazil’s oil regulator, to manage the oil industry and would be an improper judicial intrusion into public administration.
The ruling was made on an appeal by a federal prosecutor who had his initial request to issue the injunction banning Chevron and Transocean denied by a lower court.
The prosecutor had also sought to prevent Chevron or Transocean from transporting oil in Brazil and to ban the movement of equipment out the country. The injunction would have imposed penalties of $273 million dollars a day for failure to comply.
The same federal prosecutor, Eduardo Santos De Oliveira has launched two 11 billion dollar civil lawsuits against Chevron and Transocean and filed criminal charges against 17 Chevron and Transocean employees that carry jail terms of up to 31 years.
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By: Natania Levine Courtesy: reuters.com Photo: oilspillsolutions.org 12 April 2012
10:29 a.m P.D.T