On November 7, 2011, a
Chevron owned
oil well
An oil well is a drillhole boring in Earth that is designed to bring petroleum oil hydrocarbons to the surface. Usually some natural gas is released as associated petroleum gas along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce only gas may ...
began leaking causing of
crude oil
Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude ...
to enter the ocean every day. The leak took place in
Campos Basin
The Campos Basin is one of 12 coastal sedimentary basins of Brazil. It spans both onshore and offshore parts of the South Atlantic with the onshore part located near Rio de Janeiro. The basin originated in Neocomian stage of the Cretaceous period ...
,
Brazil off the coast of
Rio de Janeiro. At first, Chevron claimed that the leak was most likely due to a seep in the ocean floor but later admitted that they had made a miscalculation. Chevron says that they underestimated the amount pressure that the reservoir would exert on the oil well and says that heavier mud should have been used to seal the well. of oil were spilled over the course of four days until the well was finally sealed.
After the
oil spill
An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment, especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity, and is a form of pollution. The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is released into th ...
, 18 ships were sent out into the ocean to clean the spill. There was little documented
environmental impact, and the oil never reached the shores of Rio. Following the spill, Brazilian prosecutors filed a lawsuit for 40 billion reais ($18 billion), but in September 2013, Chevron and Brazilian officials reached a settlement of 300 million reais ($135 million).
See also
*
Lago Agrio oil field
The Lago Agrio oil field is an oil-rich area near the city of Nueva Loja in the province of Sucumbíos, Ecuador. It is located in the Western Oriente Basin. The site's hydrocarbon-bearing formations are the Cretaceous Napo and Hollin formation ...
*
Orinoco Mining Arc
The Orinoco Mining Arc (OMA), officially created on 24 February 2016 as the "Arco Mining Orinoco National Strategic Development Zone", is an area rich in mineral resources that Venezuela has been operating since 2017; It has 7,000 tons of reser ...
References
{{Reflist
External links
Dropps.utmsi.utexas.eduGulfreasearchinitiative.org
Oil spills in Brazil
2011 in Brazil
2011 in the environment
Environmental disasters in South America
Pollution in Brazil