Chevron Still Hearts Brazil

In the wake of an oil spill that will see Chevron CVX absorb at least $28 million in fines from Brazilian authorities and perhaps see the California-based company's status imperiled in the oil-rich South American country, the company remains positive on its outlook for participating in Brazil's oil boom. Chevron, the second-largest U.S. oil company, said it plans to invest $3 billion over the next three years in Brazil, currently South America's second-largest oil producer behind OPEC member Venezuela. Chevron has taken responsibility for an oil spill off Brazil's coast that has spewed an estimated 2,240 barrels into the Atlantic. Chevron's chief for Latin America and Africa, Ali Moshiri, described as premature the government's ban on its drilling activities, which it had already halted voluntarily shortly after the oil leak was discovered, Reuters reported. By some estimates, Brazil's pre-salt oil fields such as Lula and Cernambi hold as much as 50 billion barrels of recoverable reserves.