Chevron Enters Agreement With Brazilian Prosecutors, Agrees To Pay $130 Million in Damages (CVX)

Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) signed an agreement with prosecutors in Brazil on Friday, which could possibly lead to an end to multibillion civil lawsuits against the global oil and energy giant.

The lawsuits stems from a leakage of nearly 3,600 barrel of crude from Frade fields, located 370 Kilometers northwest of the coast of Rio de Janerio in November 2011. Brazil was seeking $17.5 billion in damages from Chevron.

According to the deal, Chevron will be required to pay 300 million reais (nearly $130 million) for damages caused by the crude spillage. Of the total compensation, 95 million reais are meant for social and environmental projects, Chevron said. The spill did not injure anyone nor did it lead to a major ecological damage. Hence, criminal charges were dropped in February.

Commenting over the agreement, a prosecutor’s office said in a stamen, “With the signature of the accord, which commits Chevron to unprecedented measures to prevent new incidents and compensations for the spill in the Frade Field, the two lawsuits could be resolved.”

The offshore field has a capacity to produce 60,000 barrels of oil per day. The project was operated by both chevron and Switzerland’s Transocean, which operates offshore rigs.

Transocean, which was the drilling contractor at Frade at the time of the spill, also signed the agreement but is not entitled to pay the damages.

More Posts by this author

• 
  Stocks End on a Mixed Note
• 
  Gold Prices Gain; Silver Prices Also Rise
• 
  Stocks Held Gains by Mid-Day Trade
• 
  Stocks Gain Sharply in Early Trade
• 
  Forex Market Update: Dollar Index Falls to a Four-Week Low
• 
  Gold Prices Gains as “Hawkish” Summers Withdraws From Fed Chairmanship, Silver Prices Gain as Well
• 
  Futures Point to a Higher Start

Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht.