http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/62432742-08f0-11e2-b37e-00144feabdc0.html#axzz27izXSakk
Financial Times
September 28, 2012 12:13 am
Brazil forces Transocean to halt drilling
By Samantha Pearson in São Paulo
Transocean, the world’s largest offshore oil driller, has been served with a preliminary injunction in Brazil, forcing the company to stop operations in the country within 30 days over an oil spill last year.
A federal court in Rio de Janeiro served the company with the ban on Thursday, which Transocean said it is “vigorously” trying to overturn.
Last November, about 3,700 barrels of oil flooded into the Atlantic Ocean off Rio de Janeiro from an offshore oilfield operated by US oil company Chevron and which Transocean had been contracted to drill.
The spill, which occurred when workers encountered unexpected pressure when digging a well, was followed by another small leak in March that is still being investigated.
Although November’s oil spill was relatively small – less than 0.1 per cent of the size of BP’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster – it has sparked a huge backlash as Brazil’s authorities jostle for power over vast, new-found oil reserves.
Last month, federal prosecutors warned they would suspend the operations of Chevron and Transocean, which has 10 rigs contracted for work in Brazil and derives about 11 per cent of its consolidated operating revenues from the country.
Although Transocean has appealed against the decision, a Brazilian court denied its request this month. Transocean has vowed to continue to appeal, adding that there has been no evidence of damage to marine life or human health as a result of November’s spill. Chevron is also appealing.
They also face criminal and civil lawsuits in relation to the spill totalling R$40bn ($19.7bn). Meanwhile, ANP, Brazil’s oil and gas regulator, has taken a much more moderate approach, fining Chevron only R$35.1m, which it has paid.
“The oil spill has had a huge repercussion nationally, perhaps because [the authorities] want to make an example of them to stop other foreign companies doing the same thing,” Lucas Dantas Evaristo de Souza, an environmental lawyer at Buzaglo Dantas Advogados, said.
Transocean said Thursday: “The company is vigorously pursuing the overturn or suspension of the preliminary injunction, including through an appeal to the Superior Court of Justice.”
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http://www.foxbusiness.com/news/2012/09/27/brazil-court-serves-transocean-with-injunction-to-halt-operations/
Fox Business
Brazil Court Serves Transocean with Injunction to Halt Operations
Published September 27, 2012
Dow Jones Newswires
A Brazilian federal court served drilling company Transocean Ltd. (RIG) with an injunction Thursday that will force the company to halt operations in the South American country within 30 days.
Transocean said that it was “vigorously pursuing the overturn or suspension of the preliminary injunction, including through an appeal to the Superior Court of Justice.” Should Transocean fail to get the injunction overturned or suspended, it will be forced to comply with the order, the company said.
The injunction was handed down in late July, when a court ordered Transocean and U.S. oil major Chevron Corp. (CVX) to stop operating in Brazil because of the two companies roles in an offshore oil spill last November. Both companies deny any wrongdoing. Chevron and Transocean both face civil and criminal lawsuits related to the spill, which caused an estimated 3,700 barrels of crude oil to seep from cracks in the seabed after a drilling accident.
While Chevron was sanctioned by Brazilian oil regulators, Transocean was cleared by the country’s National Petroleum Agency, or ANP.
The ANP has also appealed the case, citing the economic impact the suspension would have on oil companies operating in Brazil as well as its role as the industry’s lead regulator. Transocean said that it has 10 rigs under contract for Brazil, with nine currently in the country.
Chevron halted operations at the Frade offshore field that was the site of the spill in March. Chevron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Write to Jeff Fick at jeff.fick@dowjones.com
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Special thanks to Richard Charter