A federal judge in Rio de Janeiro denied a request for an injunction requesting that Chevron Corp. and drilling contractor Transocean Ltd. be barred from operating in Brazil following the discovery of an oil seep in offshore Frade field in November 2011.
Chevron Brazil Upstream Frade Ltd. issued a statement on Apr. 11 saying it is confident that it acted diligently and appropriately, and in accordance with industry best practices as well as within the Plan of Development as approved by Brazilian regulators.
“The source of the leak was contained in 4 days,” Chevron said of a seep discovered last year. “Continuous monitoring of the incident area shows no discernible environmental impact to marine life or human health. No oil has reached Brazil’s coast. We have received no information that anyone was harmed as a result of the incident.”
Chevron sealed an appraisal well last year. Frade field lies in 3,800 ft of water 370 km northeast of Rio de Janeiro in the Campos basin.
Following a new seep in the same general vicinity discovered in March, Chevron said it wants to study the “geological complexity” of the area. Chevron asked Brazil's National Petroleum Agency for authorization to temporarily suspend production at Frade field as a precaution.