http://www.tijolaco.com/chevron-assume-culpa-ela-escondeu-o-vazamento/

Luiz – excellent link – thank you! These images did not appear in our search of the European Space Agency archive, possibly because they were downloaded and processed at the Brazilian receiving station in Cuiaba.

Unfortunately, as today newspaper says, oil is still leaking, as you can read on here. The article is in Portuguese, but you can easily translate it using an online tool, like Google Translate.

I don't know if there is such a thing as the "average Brazilian" but I have been pleased to see how much media attention this oil spill is getting in Brazil, and how many people there are paying attention now to offshore drilling. This is an opportunity for the country to take a good look at the management and oversight of offshore drilling and oil spill response, and make some improvements. And an opportunity to get serious about energy efficiency, energy conservation and alternatives to fossil fuels.

Hi John,

We all want to know what went wrong. Journalist Paulo Schueller has some information, I have already posted it about 4 hours ago in the Pravda website, here is a Google translation: – CHEVRON: The bill belongs to ANP, the "National Agency of Privatization" – posted by PCB in Brazil yesterday – http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcb.org.br%2Fportal%2Findex.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D3272%3Achevron-a-conta-e-da-anp-a-agencia-nacional-da-privataria%26catid%3D35%3Ao-petroleo-tem-que-ser-nosso&ei=SRPNTuKaLpO-gAfw3OTWDQ&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CDYQ7gEwAA&prev=%2Fsearch%3Fq%3DCHEVRON%3A%2BA%2Bconta%2B%25C3%25A9%2Bda%2BANP%2C%2Ba%2B%2522Agencia%2BNacional%2Bda%2BPrivataria%2522%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1003%26bih%3D613%26prmd%3Dimvns
Like · · 3 hours ago ·

Hi John,

Thanks for suggesting a much smaller URL. SkyTruth has shown that censorship in not imposed on radical points-of-view. Paulo Schueller's opinion on the Chevron issue is rather strong, nevertheless he has raised some important issues….which were not posted nor published by the mainstream media in Brazil.
posted by Armando Rozário – Cabo Frio, Brazil – November 24, 2011

Hi John,

You may be interested in an article which was published today in Folha de S.Paulo. Professor Marcelo Gleiser's topic is "THE LEAK" Nov. 27 – 27/11/2011
The leak
"Every operation within the limits of knowledge involves huge risks. The pre-salt is not an exception to this fact," notes Marcelo Gleiser, professor of theoretical physics at Dartmouth College in Hanover (USA), in an article published in the Folha de S . Paul, 11/27/2011.

According to him, "while other economies struggling to move beyond the use of fossil fuels, Brazil, with its vast hydroelectric network and potential solar and wind, seems to want to go back."

Here is the article.

All operating within the limits of knowledge involves huge risks. The pre-salt will be no different

It was the first serious disaster in recent history of oil exploration off the coast of Rio arrived here this week and was horrified by the headlines about the oil spill in the Frade field, operated by Chevron well in the Campos Basin, 370 kilometers from the continent.

The leak occurs at a depth of 1.2 km and, until Wednesday, was released, according to the company, around 2,500 barrels after 15 days. There are disparities between what the ANP (National Petroleum Agency), observers and NGO SkyTruth Chevron spokesmen are saying.

According to SkyTruth, the leak was about 15 million barrels, much higher than stated by the company. While Chevron says it has 18 ships engaged in rotation for the cleaning of the region, the Federal Police said there was only one. To make matters worse, the company contracted to drill the well, Transocean, is the same that operated the Deepwater Horizon, responsible for the largest spill in U.S. history, the Gulf of Mexico last year.

Consequently, the ANP suspended the activities of Chevron in Brazil and the company denied the possibility of drilling a new well to explore the pre-salt layer. With an estimated reserve of 50 million barrels, the pre-salt is one of the greatest discoveries of the last 30 years. It is no coincidence that when the flight to Rio today, I notice that a reasonable fraction of the passengers work for the oil industry and its subsidiaries.

With increasing world population and, consequently, the consumption of petroleum and its products, it becomes increasingly difficult to find easily exploitable reserves. But the pre-salt really beats all records. With depth of 6 to 7 kilometers of the surface and passing through a salt layer with thickness varying from 200 meters to 2 kilometers, the extraction will be extremely difficult, challenging current technology.

Since I heard about the pre-salt the first time I've had nightmares about the real possibility of ecological disaster of catastrophic proportions, which could compromise the coast of Brazil from Espirito Santo to Santa Catarina.

We hear a lot about the excitement of discovery and how it is feasible to extract oil under these complicated conditions, but very little about measures taken if leaks occur, which seems inevitable. All operating within the limits of knowledge involves huge risks. The pre-salt will be no exception to this fact.

While other economies struggling to move beyond the use of fossil fuels, Brazil, with its vast hydroelectric network and potential solar and wind, seems to want to go back. Of course everyone wants the royalties that come from oil exploration, always with the view of the short-term profit. But such accidents in the Frade field, show the dangers of unbridled exploitation and without strict measures of control.

The pre-salt might be the goose that lays golden eggs in Brazil. Remember that, in Aesop's fable, the owner of the chicken, greedy, impatient, turns out to kill her to get the eggs that she believed she had in her womb. And with no end.

posted by Armando Rozário – petroamerica/macanese – November 27, 2011 – GOOGLE translation

Hi John,

The president of Chevron in Latin America presented some very strange data on the oil spill in the Campos Basin. READ THIS REPORT: Chevron Says Rio Oil Leak Controlled: Daily
November 25, 2011 | Filed underDaily Update | Posted by Ben Tavener

By Ben Tavener, Senior Contributing Reporter

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president of Chevron for Africa and Latin America, Ali Moshiri, said on Thursday that the Frade oil field leak was under control and that the slick some 75 miles (120km) from the Rio coastline has now practically disappeared.
Ali Moshiri, Chevron's President for Africa and Latin America, after meeting Brazil's Energy Minister Edison Lobão

Chevron's Ali Moshiri highlighted the region’s “complex geology” and blamed Mother Nature for his company's troubles, photo by Valter Campanato/ABr

He said the U.S. oil giant is now concentrating on sealing the well at the center of the incident, which would now be abandoned, and that the any oil floating in the ocean amounted to one-tenth of a barrel (about four gallons or 16 liters).

Moshiri – who was in talks with Brazil’s Energy Minister, Edison Lobão – said that the company’s response had been “first-class” and that Chevron’s Brazilian subsidiary has one of the best safety records.

He also said that cause of the spill, which first came to light on November 8th, was as yet unknown and that investigations would continue, denying any issue of control within the company.

On Wednesday, the ANP – Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency – decided to suspend all drilling in the Frade oil field – which is completely operated by Chevron some 230 miles (370km) off the Rio de Janeiro state coastline.

The ANP has also rejected Chevron’s request to drill a new well to reach the pre-salt layer, saying that “pre-salt drilling poses risks of a similar nature to that at the affected well, only larger and deeper”.

Read more (in Portuguese).

* The Rio Times Daily Update is a new feature we are offering to help keep you up-to-date with major news as it happens.

posted by Armando Rozário – Cabo Frio, Brazil – November 26, 2011

Hi John,

Another excellent article, written by a Brazilian scientist Marcelo Gleiser. I modestly point out that I beg to differ on two points. Petrobras holds less than 50% of its shares and not 51%. The term "pre-sal" (pre-salt) is only used in Brazil. The correct term is sub-salt, the massive oil deposits are beneath the salt strata.

CHEVRON'S BRAZILIAN OIL DÉBÂCLE: TO DRILL OR NOT TO DRIL – by Marcelo Gleiser

Chevron's Brazilian Oil Debacle: To Drill Or Not To Drill

Categories: Science and Society

01:34 pm

November 30, 2011

by Marcelo Gleiser

After a few days in Rio de Janeiro, my hometown, I was horrified to see the local headlines saturated with news that Chevron's Frade project, located 230 miles off the northeastern coast of Rio in 3,800 feet of water, had leaked for over 15 days. While Chevron says the leak, which started on November 7, is now contained and that the total amount of the spill was under 2,400 barrels, there have been accusations from Brazilian environmental and regulatory agencies that the company is only telling part of the story. A week ago, the main local newspaper, O Globo, ran this headline: "Chevron lies and may be forbidden from operating in the country." A Brazilian regulator put its own estimate on the spill at as much as 3,000 barrels and, on November 23, banned the company from further drilling, as well as fining Chevron $28 million.

While Chevron says it had engaged 18 ships in the cleanup on a rotation basis, the environmental division of the federal police sent a crew to the region who reported seeing only one. Local authorities have accused the company of overlooking the fact that the oil has moved dangerously close to regional river mouths. Residents have complained of sickness, including dizziness and vomiting.

To add to the drama, the drilling contractor, Transocean, owns the Deepwater Horizon rig that involved in last year's Gulf of Mexico BP oil spill, the largest in U.S. history.

Brazil, the world's seventh-largest economy, is poised to continue its amazing growth in the near future. In the past few years, an estimated 50 billion barrels of oil have been found in very deep waters northeast of Rio, the biggest found in the West in 30 years.

When you fly to Rio nowadays, it's clear that a substantial fraction of the passengers work for the oil business. Meanwhile, Brazil's own giant oil company, the stated-controlled Petrobrás, is the fourth-largest company in the world by market capitalization. Whoever still thinks Brazil is a third-world country should think again. Or come down and take a look.

The new oil reserves, known as "pre-salt," present an extraordinary technical challenge, lying under a salt deposit over one-mile thick. The oil reserves themselves are located over four miles deep. I have nightmares thinking of what could happen to this spectacularly beautiful coast. Since its discovery, one hears a lot of euphoric statements of the economic potential of such discovery and precious little about the enormous environmental dangers of exploiting oil at such depths and under such conditions.

The current Chevron oil spill, I hope, will raise the awareness of both politicians and the population to what could happen if a really bad spill were to occur here.

While much of the world is debating how to move away from oil and fossil fuels, Brazil, with its vast natural resources and the largest hydroelectric power usage in the world (around 90 percent of the country's total usage), seems to be going backwards. I wonder if their dream of becoming the world's fifth-largest economy in a decade is feasible without a deep re-evaluation of its energy policy. Oil is becoming harder and harder to extract here and everywhere. Why is it so hard to get the picture?

You can keep up with more of what Marcelo is thinking on Facebook.

re-posted by Armando Rozário – Cabo Frio, Brazil – November 30, 2011