US energy giant Chevron drew fire from Brazilian officials on Friday amid reports that an oil spill at an offshore well it operated off Rio de Janeiro state was much bigger than initially thought.
Chevron has claimed the spill was caused by a natural oil seep rather than a leak or other problem at its well, but Rio State Environment Secretary Carlos Minc said the “accident must be bigger than what is being announced.”
“We are going to demand compensation for [the damage done] to birds, fish, dolphins and fishermen,” he told Globo TV. “The company must be punished in an exemplary manner.”
Photo: Reuters
The energy ministry said “220 to 230 barrels” of oil were seeping into the ocean daily.
According to Greenpeace, satellite pictures showed a spill “10 times bigger” than the 330 barrels a day calculated by the National Petroleum Agency, and likely reached closer to 3,700 barrels a day.
Chevron did not immediately return requests for comment.
“There is no doubt that an offense occurred. The spill results from the drilling activity,” said Fabio Scliar, head of the Federal Police department’s environment affairs division.
“What interests me now is -determining the responsibilities,” Scliar said.
Federal police are looking into the case.
Greenpeace activists spilled black ink on the door of Chevron’s Rio office to protest against the US energy giant’s drilling off the Brazilian coast.
“Chevron: your trash, our problem,” read a placard waved by an activist outside the Chevron office in central Rio.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged prisoners of war in the latest such swap that saw the release of hundreds of captives and was brokered with the help of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), officials said on Monday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that 189 Ukrainian prisoners, including military personnel, border guards and national guards — along with two civilians — were freed. He thanked the UAE for helping negotiate the exchange. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that 150 Russian troops were freed from captivity as part of the exchange in which each side released 150 people. The reason for the discrepancy in numbers
A shark attack off Egypt’s Red Sea coast killed a tourist and injured another, authorities said on Sunday, with an Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs source identifying both as Italian nationals. “Two foreigners were attacked by a shark in the northern Marsa Alam area, which led to the injury of one and the death of the other,” the Egyptian Ministry of Environment said in a statement. A source at the Italian foreign ministry said that the man killed was a 48-year-old resident of Rome. The injured man was 69 years old. They were both taken to hospital in Port Ghalib, about 50km north
BLOODSHED: North Koreans take extreme measures to avoid being taken prisoner and sometimes execute their own forces, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Saturday said that Russian and North Korean forces sustained heavy losses in fighting in Russia’s southern Kursk region. Ukrainian and Western assessments say that about 11,000 North Korean troops are deployed in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces occupy swathes of territory after staging a mass cross-border incursion in August last year. In his nightly video address, Zelenskiy quoted a report from Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi as saying that the battles had taken place near the village of Makhnovka, not far from the Ukrainian border. “In battles yesterday and today near just one village, Makhnovka,
The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Tuesday expressed concern about “the political crisis” in Georgia, two days after Mikheil Kavelashvili was formally inaugurated as president of the South Caucasus nation, cementing the ruling party’s grip in what the opposition calls a blow to the country’s EU aspirations and a victory for former imperial ruler Russia. “We strongly condemn last week’s violence against peaceful protesters, media and opposition leaders, and recall Georgian authorities’ responsibility to respect human rights and protect fundamental freedoms, including the freedom to assembly and media freedom,” the three ministers wrote in a joint statement. In reaction
RSS