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Brazil Oil Union Files Suit Against Chevron, Transocean

29 March 2012 10:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Brazil’s largest oil workers union filed a lawsuit against U.S. oil company Chevron and drilling firm Transocean that seeks to cancel their rights to operate in the country as the result of an offshore oil spill last November.

The case, brought by the FUP oil workers federation in Brazilian federal court, raises the legal and political stakes for Chevron and Transocean which are already fighting criminal and civil cases related to the spill.

FUP, which has long opposed foreign involvement in Brazilian oil development, said Chevron and Transocean "offended the Brazilian people" with "predatory and environmentally unsound practices.

FUP wants the court to force Chevron to give up a field that has cost about $2 billion in investment and was producing up to 80,000 barrels a day of oil. It also seeks unspecified financial damages for the Brazilian people.