Brazil gets tough on big oil

RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Brazilian government needs to put pressure on oil companies now to handle an expected oil boom the right way, an environmental secretary said.

The Brazilian Environment Ministry imposed a $27.7 million fine on Chevron for a spill off the coast of Rio de Janeiro last month. The Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels added it would hit the supermajor with additional fines for a lack of disclosure about the accident.

Chevron estimated around 2,400 barrels of oil leaked from a so-called seep line near the Frade field.

Rio de Janeiro state Environmental Secretary Carlos Minc told the Financial Times that Brazil needed to be tough with oil companies.

"Everyone wants to come to Brazil and if we're not strict with (Chevron), this place is going to turn into a pool of oil," he was quoted as saying.

An estimated 50 billion barrels of oil lies off the country's coast, a volume that's expected to put the Latin American country on par with some of the world's top oil producers.

"We need to be hard now, especially on big companies such as Chevron, which has all the resources to do things the right way but got it wrong," added Minc.