RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 19 (Reuters) - A judge in Campos,
a city in Brazil's main oil region, ordered a 20 billion real
($11.2 billion) oil spill lawsuit against Chevron moved to a
court in Rio de Janeiro, a ruling that could sideline the
outspoken prosecutor who launched the case.
The office of Campos-based federal prosecutor Eduardo Santos
de Oliveira, who filed the civil suit in Campos Federal district
court following Chevron's estimated 2,400 barrel offshore oil spill in November, told Reuters on Wednesday that he plans to
appeal the Jan. 9 decision.
Oliveira wants to keep the suit in Campos, a venue 144 miles
(232 km) north of state capital Rio de Janeiro which has served
as the jurisdiction for some past oil spill litigation in
Brazil. A judge ruled the case should shift to Rio's Federal
Regional Tribunal, which would hand the case to a separate team
of federal prosecutors.
A spokesman for San Ramon,California-based Chevron
confirmed that a recent ruling could move the lawsuit to Rio de
Janeiro. Chevron declined further comment.
Campos isn't the appropriate venue for the suit because
alleged damages caused by an oil spill at Chevron's Frade field
in November are "regional" in nature, the judge ruled.
The judge's ruling did not address the merits of the
lawsuit, which is expected to proceed. Oliveira's appeal may
take 10 days, his office said. The prosecutor has also sought to
ban Chevron and Transocean from Brazil.
On Dec. 14, Oliveira brought the federal civil action
against both Chevron and Transocean, its drilling contractor at
Frade, seeking billions in damages for the November spill, which
Chevron has taken responsibility for.
It is not clear whether prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro would
pursue the lawsuit with the same zeal as Oliveira.
Some legal experts and Brazilian lawmakers have said the
massive damages sought in the case are unreasonable.
Oil from the Frade leak, which occurred 230 miles offshore
after a pressure kick during drilling that later resulted in oil
seeps from the seafloor, never reached the Brazilian coast. The
spill volume, which Oliveira puts at 3,000 barrels and Chevron
has estimated at 2,400 barrels, is only a tiny fraction of the
estimated 4.9 million barrels that spewed from BP's Macondo
field in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico during 2010.
Oil production at the 79,000 barrel-per-day Frade field has
continued since the leak. However, Brazilian oil regulators
ordered Chevron to shut one production well at Frade and have
temporarily banned Chevron from drilling any new wells.
Chevron operates the Frade field. Its partners in the heavy
oil project are state-run Petrobras and Japan's Inpex Corp.,
which are not subject to the lawsuit.
(Reporting By Joshua Schneyer and Jeb Blount)
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