A Brazilian federal prosecutor has launched a new lawsuit against oil giant Chevron Corp. (CVX) and driling contractor Transocean Ltd. (RIG) for 20 billion reais ($11 billion) related to a second oil leak occurred at Chevron's Frade field off Brazilian coast in early March.
In December 2011, the country's prosecutors had filed a $10.6 billion lawsuit against Chevron and Transocean for environmental damage caused by an oil spill in November in the Campos Basin, off the southern coastal state of Rio de Janeiro.
The Brazilian prosecutors then claimed that "Chevron and Transocean weren't capable of controlling the damages from a spill of 3,000 barrels of oil, which proves a lack of environmental planning and management"
Chevron had said in March that its unit Brasil Upstream Frade Ltd. has filed to temporarily halt production operations in Brazil after "a small new seep" was identified at the Frade Field in the Campos Basin. Frade field is the largest foreign run oil field in Brazil.
In the latest lawsuit, prosecutor Eduardo Santos de Oliveira also seeks to stop operations at Frade and prevent the U.S. oil company from transfering profits made in Brazil. It also seeks to prevent the company from moving equipment out of the country and receiving finance supported by the government.
CVX closed on Tuesday at $107.14, down from the prior close of $108.30, on a volume of 4.69 million shares.
Transocean is currently falling 2.12 percent in Zurich to 47.79 francs.
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