http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=142726848

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAO PAULO November 23, 2011, 04:54 pm ET

SAO PAULO (AP) – Chevron was banned from drilling for oil in Brazil until an investigation into an offshore oil leak at one of the U.S.-based oil company’s well sites is completed, regulators said Wednesday.

The board of Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency met and “ordered the suspension of drilling activities” until it can identify the causes and who is responsible for the leak of more than 110,000 gallons of oil into the Atlantic ocean off the nation’s southeastern coast.

“This resolution suspends all drilling activity for Chevron Brasil Ltda. in national territory,” the statement read.

It was not clear how long the suspension would last.

Chevron said in an emailed statement that it would “follow all the rules and regulations of the Government of Brazil and its agencies.”

Oil started leaking at the site of a Chevron appraisal well on Nov. 7, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) off the northeastern coast of Rio de Janeiro state.

The agency said on Tuesday that the leak was now “under control.”

The work at the Frade field where the leak took place is one of Chevron’s “biggest capital investments,” according to the company’s website, though details are not provided.
George Buck, chief operating officer for Chevron’s Brazilian division, has said the spill occurred because Chevron underestimated the pressure in an underwater reservoir.

He said earlier this week that this caused crude oil to rush up a bore hole and eventually escaped into the surrounding seabed. The oil has leaked through at least seven narrow fissures on the ocean floor, all within 160 feet (50 meters) of the wellhead.

The leak is a test for Brazil as huge offshore oil finds have been announced recently, with estimates that they could hold at least 50 billion barrels of oil.

Brazil’s Environment Ministry has fined Chevron nearly $28 million, but has said the company could face five or six times that in future penalties. Chevron has not indicated if it will contest the fine in court, which it can do under Brazilian law.

The company came under withering criticism from officials at the ministry and also the regulatory agency for not fully sharing information about the spill in its early days, and of not having the proper emergency equipment on hand to deal with the spill.

Chevron Corp. officials have accepted responsibility for the spill but adamantly reject those accusations.

The oil slick on the ocean surface that resulted from the leak has significantly declined, officials said, dropping to less than 0.78 square miles (2 square kilometers).

George Buck, chief operating officer for Chevron’s Brazilian division, appeared before the lower house of Brazil’s Congress on Wednesday. He repeated that the company takes full responsibility and he apologized to the Brazilian government and nation.

Carlos Minc, the environment minister for Rio de Janeiro state, has harshly criticized Chevron, telling foreign reporters in Rio that Brazil’s laws “allow foreign companies to explore in our waters, we welcome anyone as long as they respect our laws.”

“But we are also not a banana republic. If a company violates Brazilian law and the concession terms … they should go to jail and lose all their exploration rights. We want to be treated with the dignity we deserve as the world’s seventh-largest economy.”
___
Associated Press Television News producer Flora Charner contributed to this report from Rio de Janeiro.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/19/major-oil-leak-at-o

Published November 19, 2011
Fox News Latino

A leak at an offshore Chevron drilling site off the coast of Brazil may have dumped around 110,000 gallons of oil into the Atlantic Ocean, Brazilian officials said Friday.

Officials think between 8,400 to 13,800 gallons of oil leaked each day from Nov. 8 through Tuesday, Ibama said in a statement on its website. Chevron had said that only 16,800 to 27,300 gallons in total leaked into the ocean.

Officials are still investigating the cause of the leak, which has been almost entirely contained, but the Ibama statement said it was a result of drilling.

An official at Brazil’s Federal Police, which has opened an investigation into the spill, said Chevron “drilled about 500 meters (1,640 feet) farther than they were licensed to do.” The official, who agreed to discuss the matter only if not quoted by name, said that information came from a person with knowledge of the drilling.

The leak occurred at a drilling site about 230 miles (370 kilometers) northeast of Rio de Janeiro.

Rio state Environment Minister Carlos Minc said earlier he was sure the leak was larger than Chevron estimated and he called for more transparency from the company.

SUMMARY

Chevron had said that only 16,800 to 27,300 gallons in total leaked into the ocean.

“We can’t trivialize this,” he told the Globo TV network. “It’s really serious and we don’t yet know all the consequences.”

Marine life in the area of the spill will be affected by the leak, Minc said, adding that whales are migrating from north to south through the spill area.

The oil slick, which was moving away from the coast, grew to 11 miles (18 kilometers), Ibama said. Most of the oil was concentrated around the drilling rig in a layer about 3 feet (1 meter) thick.

Chevron said “current estimates place the volume of the oil sheen on the ocean surface to be less than 65 barrels.”

The company said it has 18 ships working on a rotating basis to collect oil off the surface and monitor the slick.

The drilling contractor for the well is Transocean Ltd., the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig that oil company BP PLC was leasing at the time of last year’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the largest in U.S. history and one that dwarfs the Brazilian leak. At its peak, BP’s Macondo well was spewing more 2 million gallons a day.

Chevron said cementing operations were taking place so the well off Brazil is plugged. ANP, Brazil’s national petroleum agency, said in a note on its website that “the first stage of cementing, to permanently abandon the well, was successfully completed.” The regulator said the success of permanently plugging the well would be known “in the coming days.”

ANP also said underwater footage showed that a “residual leakage flow” was continuing, but that “the oil slick continues moving away from the coast and is being dispersed, as desired.”

Fabio Scliar, head of the Federal Police’s environmental affairs division, which is investigating the case, said those responsible would be held accountable.

“There is no doubt that a crime occurred. The spill comes from the drilling activity. What interests me now is to find who is responsible,” Scliar was quoted as saying by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
It’s really serious and we don’t yet know all the consequences.
– Rio state Environment Minister Carlos Minc

The oil is believed to be coming from seep lines in the seafloor near the well and not from the well itself. Natural seeps are common around the world – perhaps the most well known in the U.S. is the La Brea Tar Pits in the heart of Los Angeles – and are often used by oil companies during undersea exploration to determine where a good prospect for oil drilling may be.

Natural seeps are usually so small in volume they don’t cause a nuisance beyond producing the periodic tar ball that washes up on a beach.

But problems with drilling a well nearby can exacerbate the seeps and cause greater flow of oil, which can be hard to control, said George Hirasaki, a Rice University engineering professor who was involved in the Bay Marchand oil containment effort for Shell off Louisiana in the 1970s.

“Anytime there is movement of fluids, even if it didn’t go to the surface of the well, the internal flow could result in the fluid going somewhere else,” Hirasaki said. “It could move laterally at the same depth or increase the flow rate of natural seeps that are connecting to the surface.”

Investigators will want to look at whether the weight of the mud being used during the drilling and abandonment operations was sufficient to contain the pressure inside the well, and they will also want to see whether drilling too deep caused problems in a geopressure zone beneath the seafloor, experts said.

Ed Overton, a Louisiana State University environmental sciences professor, said that to truly control the leak could be difficult.

“If you have this stuff oozing up through the ground you don’t have a mechanism for control,” Overton said. “If something started that to leak, that would worry me a lot more than a leak around the well. You’d have to drill a relief well and intercept that ooze.”

People familiar with last year’s BP oil spill off Louisiana know about relief wells.

BP spent four months drilling a relief well that it used to pump cement under the area that was spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico, and sealed the leak permanently.

Experts said that while there are many physical differences between the BP spill and the Chevron spill, the main common thread is the slow flow of information and different explanations for what happened and the severity of what happened.

“There’s a pretty long track record of all the people involved in spills underestimating at least initially the size of the spills,” Overton said. “I would suspect they literally don’t know, so they are trying to figure out.”

The Chevron leak is smaller than those Brazil has seen in the past.

In 2000, crude spewed from a broken pipeline at the Reduc refinery in Rio de Janeiro’s scenic Guanabara Bay, spewing at least 344,400 gallons into the water. Just a few months later, more than 1 million gallons of crude burst from a pipeline state-controlled oil company Petrobras into a river in southern Brazil.

Brazil’s worst oil disaster was in 1975, when an oil tanker from Iraq dumped more than 8 million gallons of crude into the bay and caused Rio’s famous beaches to be closed for nearly three weeks.

Based on reporting by The Associated Press.

Read more: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/11/19/major-oil-leak-at-offshore-chevron-site-in-brazil/#ixzz1eCxbBYbg

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/oilandgas_nsps/?r=232012&id=30706-2107199-hwfng6x

Tell the EPA

How can it be that on some days, the air in rural Wyoming is smoggier than the worst days in Los Angeles?

Oil and gas drilling in 30 states releases a slew of dangerous and toxic air pollution like smog-forming ozone, benzene and formaldehyde.

Despite the serious respiratory and neurological impacts, the clean air rules governing drilling pollution haven’t been updated since the 1980’s. And many of the worst chemicals still aren’t regulated at all.

The EPA has proposed long-overdue updates to oil and gas air pollution rules and is accepting public comments until November 30th. Amidst mounting industry pressure, and mounting political pressure from within the Obama administration to cave to polluters ahead of the 2012 election, it’s really important that the EPA hears our strong support.

Tell the EPA: Stop toxic air pollution from oil and gas drilling.

With the rapid expansion of oil and gas drilling – especially the controversial gas drilling process known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or fracking – these rules need to be implemented without delay.

But the EPA has been under enormous pressure to delay or derail one clean air rule after another, as the agency works through the backlog of legally required clean air updates left in the wake of eight years of inaction and backsliding from the Bush Administration.

Unfortunately, many of President Obama’s advisers have gotten into the game too. This was detailed in a blockbuster article in this week’s New York Times, which chronicled the decision by President Obama and others to torpedo the EPA’s life-saving ozone rule.1

Tell the EPA: Don’t delay on strong rules to reduce air pollution from oil and gas drilling. Submit a comment now.

Many of these oil and gas drilling facilities operate in close proximity to homes or schools, where residents report severe headaches, dizziness, difficulty breathing, nosebleeds, rashes and even trouble walking or speaking.

The proposed rules are an important first step to limit toxic air pollution, using cost-effective, readily available technology. Unfortunately, the rules fail to address methane released from oil and gas, the most potent greenhouse gas pollutant — and should be strengthened to do so.

The oil and gas industry has been unaccountable for their pollution for far too long. As the President continues to approve expansion of oil and gas drilling, we need to show that the EPA has strong support for this rule to limit some of its toxic effects.

Submit a public comment now to tell the EPA to reduce toxic air pollution from oil and gas drilling.

http://www.keysnet.com/2011/11/17/397400/legislation-aimed-at-discouraging.html

Nelson introduces bill as rig set to arrive here soon
By David Goodhue dgoodhue@keysreporter.com
Posted – Thursday, November 17, 2011 04:53 PM EST

Bill Nelson, Florida’s senior senator, and a Senate colleague from New Jersey introduced a bill last week that would hold foreign oil companies directly accountable for oil spills that pollute U.S. territory. The bill was written in anticipation of a massive foreign offshore drilling operation that could begin in Cuban waters – as close as 50 miles from Key West – by late next month.
Nelson, a Democrat, and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., introduced the bill on Nov. 9. It ensures that in the event of an oil spill, claimants can directly sue companies responsible for the disaster. The bill also removes the $75 million liability cap.
Nelson and Menendez said in a statement that the legislation is meant to be a “big stick” to discourage foreign oil companies from drilling offshore near Florida.

“Hopefully, companies seeking to drill in Cuban waters will think twice once they know they would be fully liable for any damages to the Florida Keys, South Florida beaches, or if the spill reached the Gulf Stream, anywhere up the East Coast,” Menendez said in a prepared statement.

A statement from Nelson’s office said current law contains “ambiguities” that might allow companies “to argue that [lawsuits] could not be brought directly against them under the Oil Pollution Act, the main body of law that protects America from oil spills.”

Spanish oil company Repsol will be the first of several foreign companies to explore for oil in the Florida Straits aboard a giant Italian-owned semi-submersible rig constructed in China and Taiwan. The $750 million rig, named the Scarabeo 9, is en route to the Cuban coast and is expected to arrive in late December or January.

Companies from countries including Russia, Brazil, Vietnam and Norway will operate from the rig after Repsol. What is most concerning to some observers is the depth of the project – more than 6,000 feet underwater. The 2010 DeepWater Horizon/British Petroleum spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which took 85 days to stop, happened at a depth of 5,500 feet.

Another concern about the project stems from the 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba’s communist government. In the event of a spill, U.S. companies with needed expertise would be delayed in helping with cleanup efforts because they would need special permission from the federal government to operate in Cuban waters.

Nelson said any delay in spill mitigation could prove disastrous for Florida’s environment and tourism-dependent economy. “If there is a spill there, we could lose part of the Everglades, or the Keys, or the coral reefs, or our fishing industry or tourism – and jobs,” he said. How much oil is located in the area of the Florida Straits Repsol will explore is up for debate. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates about 5 billion barrels, but the Cuban government thinks the offshore area holds up to 20 billion barrels.

Cuba is not the only Florida neighbor hoping to take advantage of its potential oil reserves. A Bahamian energy investment firm, Bahamas Petroleum Co., said recently that it hopes to partner with a major oil company and begin exploration by 2012.

Special thanks to Richard Charter

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/11/17-3

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 2011 11:34 AM

CONTACT: Friends of The Earth, Kelly Trout, 202-222-0722, ktrout@foe.org
Emilie Openchowski, 202-222-0723, eopenchowski@foe.org

This is so egregeous that I have posted it here even tho it is not technically offshore oil–it is onshore oil—taking a bad turn. DV

WASHINGTON – November 17 – A new tranche of internal State Department documents released today by public interest groups is raising fresh concerns about pro-pipeline bias — just as the department begins a new review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline’s likely impacts.

“What we see in these new documents is additional evidence that State Department officials acted as though they were on the same team as TransCanada, rather than meeting their obligation to be independent regulators,” Friends of the Earth climate and energy director Damon Moglen said. “There are also a surprising number of redactions and withheld documents, begging the question: what is it that the State Department is covering up?”

Redactions litter a series of email exchanges around two internal State Department Keystone XL meetings, raising cover-up concerns. The excisions include correspondence involving Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Dan Clune and Assistant Secretary for Oceans, Environment, and Science Kerri-Ann Jones.

The documents were obtained via the Freedom of Information Act by Friends of the Earth, the Center for International Environmental Law and Corporate Ethics International, after the groups, represented by Earthjustice, sued the State Department to force their release.

Among other concerns, the documents:

Indicate State official Matthew McManus viewed a meeting with TransCanada as an opportunity to “be able to address the Nebraska/water issues with one voice,” raising the alarming possibility that State was collaborating with TransCanada to push back against Nebraskans’ concerns.
Demonstrate that in at least one lobby meeting orchestrated by Paul Elliott between TransCanada and the State Department, the controversial contractor Cardno Entrix was present.
Suggest State and TransCanada may have been coordinating on media strategy.
Show that State official Michael Stewart, who was called State’s “guru on all things Keystone XL” in one email, took a special tour of the Keystone I control room in Calgary with a TransCanada executive and in turn advocated high-level access for that executive.
Reference other documents that should have been provided or listed in response to the FOIA request but were not.

Earlier in November, the Inspector General of the State Department announced it was launching an investigation into wrongdoing in the department’s review of the Keystone XL pipeline. The investigation came in response to concerns raised by more than a dozen members of Congress led by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congressman Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.).

“The further evidence of collaboration between State Department officials and TransCanada that these documents provide should disqualify the unrepentant State Department from playing any role in the new environmental review,” Moglen said. “Given that the State Department is already under investigation by its own Inspector General for conflicts of interest and potential malfeasance in its handling of the pipeline review process, it is neither appropriate nor acceptable that the department would remain in charge.”

The new tranche of documents, and a memo providing a more detailed overview of their contents, can be found at: http://foe.org/new-keystone-xl-documents-raise-fresh-concerns-about-state-department
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Friends of the Earth is the U.S. voice of the world’s largest grassroots environmental network, with member groups in 77 countries. Since 1969, Friends of the Earth has fought to create a more healthy, just world.

Special thanks to Common Dreams.