Chevron’s drilling rights in Brazil suspended
Nov 24th, 2011 by WendyS
The Brazilian government blamed Chevron for the Frade Spill on November 8th, and suspended Chevron’s drilling rights on November 23rd until Chevron apologized and clarified the cause for the incident.
In additional to apologies, Chevron has also been fined $28 million by Brazil’s environmental agency. Chevron took full charge to provide solutions for the spill. “We controlled the source in four days. We worked with transparency and cooperation with the authorities of Brazil,” George Buck, Chevron’s CEO in Brazil, said. He also mentioned that the company “acted as rapidly and safely as possible” and “used all resources” to contain and stop the flow of oil from the drilling well.
Although the Frade Spill was relatively small, it still had great impact globally. Moreover, it will lead to an increase in opposition to offshore drilling worldwide, which will become obstacles to further drilling for the company. It is crucial for a company to understand corporate social responsibilities and take actions to limit negative impact on the environment. In this case, Chevron should find a better way to minimize the potential for a spill to happen in the future. The company should also take into the account the costs that the society will suffer as a whole before taking actions to gain profits.
(credit to photograph:http://www.upstreamonline.com/live/article290461.ece)