Attempted Oil Theft Leads to Spill

Monday, December 10, 2018

At least 60,000 liters (377 barrels) of oil spilled into Rio de Janeiro's Guanabara Bay and a nearby river over the weekend after an attempted robbery on a pipeline, Petroleo Brasileiro SA's Transpetro unit said, highlighting the dangers of Brazil's thriving trade in stolen oil.

"It was a leak of significant proportions, with an impact on the mangroves," said Maurício Muniz, an analyst at the Instituto Chico Mendes, which is associated with Brazil's environment ministry.

Transpetro said in a statement the oil had spilled into the Estrela River, which feeds the Guanabara Bay. The company alerted authorities and activated its emergency clean-up teams immediately, and by Monday morning, almost 75 percent of the oil had been cleaned up, the company said.

Transpetro and Petrobras, as Petroleo Brasileiro is commonly known, have become frequent targets of theft in recent years as gangs steal millions of dollars a year of oil and derivatives and resell it on the black market.

The racket is part of a larger crime wave in Brazil, provoked by the nation's worst recession on record.

In a statement, Transpetro said that oil visible from a helicopter flyover was limited to the banks and mouth of the Estrela River.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Writing by Gram Slattery; Editing by Mark Potter and Jeffrey Benkoe)

Categories: Legal Oil South America Pipe

Related Stories

CNOOC Finds Oil and Gas in South China Sea

KBR-SOCAR Joint Venture Secures Work for BP in Azerbaijan

Santos and QatarEnergy Agree Mid-Term LNG Supply

PTTEP Hires Energy Drilling’s Rig for Southeast Asia Offshore Job

One Shelf Drilling Rig Up for New Job in India, Other for Disposal

Yinson Production Secures $1.17B Refinancing for FPSO Maria Quitéria

CNOOC Signs Hydrocarbons Exploration and Production Deal with Kazakhstan

Thailand's PTT to Buy LNG from Glenfarne's Alaska LNG Project

Hanwha Drilling’s Tidal Action Drillship En Route to Petrobras’ Roncador Field

MODEC Wins ExxonMobil Guyana’s Hammerhead FPSO Contract

Current News

Pandion Energy Divests Interests in Three Norwegian Assets to Inpex

China Starts Production at Major Oil Field in Bohai Sea

Dutch Contractor Completes Malaysia’s Largest 'Rig-to-Reef' Decom Project

China Rolls Out 17MW Floating Wind Turbine Prototype

SBM Offshore’s Jaguar FPSO Enters Drydock in Singapore (Video)

EnQuest Picks Up Offshore Oil and Gas Block in Brunei

CNOOC Finds Oil and Gas in South China Sea

Seatrium Makes First Turnkey FPSO Delivery to Petrobras

KBR-SOCAR Joint Venture Secures Work for BP in Azerbaijan

Baker Hughes, Petronas Team Up for Asia-Pacific Energy Resilience

Subscribe for AOG Digital E‑News

AOG Digital E-News is the subsea industry's largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week

https://accounts.newwavemedia.com