Chevron

Federal prosecutors in Brazil, citing environmental damage, are seeking $10.6 billion from Chevron following an offshore oil spill. They also want Chevron, the second-largest US oil company, and Transocean Ltd., a drilling contractor for Chevron, to suspend operations in Brazil. The leak started Nov. 7 as a test well was being drilled 230 miles off the coast. Officials say more than 110,000 gallons of oil leaked into the ocean. Chevron did not immediately comment yesterday. Its stock fell to the lowest price since 2004.

Did Chevron have a better start to the year than Exxon? The No. 2 U.S. oil company reports earnings this morning. Wall Street expects Chevron Corp. to say it earned $3.27 per share, excluding items, in the first three months of 2012. It earned $3.09 in last year's first quarter. Exxon had an unusually tough quarter. It said Thursday that earnings fell 6.5 percent, the first quarterly decline since late 2009. Oil companies are benefiting from high oil prices. But they're struggling to boost production.

The US energy giant was fined by Brazil's environmental regulator, known as Ibama, after an offshore oil spill. The regulator said Chevron may also lose its status as a "class A" operator, which allows it to develop deepwater fields. Transocean Ltd., the company hired to drill the offshore oil well, will be banned from operating in Rio de Janeiro state and fined up to $28 million, officials said.

Sixty-six residents of a Salt Lake City neighborhood are suing Chevron over a pair of oil spills in 2010. The lawsuit filed in federal court Friday claims their properties near Red Butte Creek have been damaged by the spills and residual oil poses potential health problems. Attorney Paul Durham says the group will seek damages in the tens of millions of dollars. State regulators say a pipeline failure in June 2010 released 33,000 gallons of oil into Red Butte Creek that killed all the fish at Liberty Lake, as well as large trees.

Chevron Corp. on Wednesday urged Ecuador's authorities to investigate the conduct of plaintiffs' lawyers and a judge who handed down an $18 billion decision in an oil pollution case. The oil company said in a statement that it submitted a letter to the country's prosecutor general alleging there was fraud and corruption in the case. In the letter, the company accused the plaintiffs' lawyers of working with Judge Nicolas Zambrano to draft the February judgment. Karen Hinton, U.S. spokeswoman for the Ecuadoreans who won the judgment against the company, dismissed those...

LONDON — Britain has granted Chevron Corp. a permit for the first new deepwater drilling project in UK waters since the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, brushing aside calls for a US-style moratorium on new offshore drilling. The decision, confirmed yesterday, means that Chevron can begin drilling an exploratory well immediately in its remote Lagavulin prospect in waters north of the Shetland isles off the Scottish coast. Chevron said drilling was imminent but no firm start date had yet been set. Greenpeace, which ended a three-day blockade of the project this week after losing a court...

Did Chevron have a better start to the year than Exxon? The No. 2 U.S. oil company reports earnings this morning. Wall Street expects Chevron Corp. to say it earned $3.27 per share, excluding items, in the first three months of 2012. It earned $3.09 in last year's first quarter. Exxon had an unusually tough quarter. It said Thursday that earnings fell 6.5 percent, the first quarterly decline since late 2009. Oil companies are benefiting from high oil prices. But they're struggling to boost production.

Chevron Corp. says it has ended its search for two workers who went missing in a fire on an offshore rig near Nigeria's coast. Chevron said in a statement Thursday it extends its condolences to the families of the missing persons. However, it did not declare them dead and declined to give more details. The American energy company says it has accounted for 152 workers who had been present on the gas rig and a nearby barge when the fire started Monday. It said two workers were treated for minor burns.

WASHINGTON - By agreeing to pay $30 million, Chevron Corp. has reached the largest of five settlements in the government's ongoing investigation of illegal kickbacks made to Iraq in connection with the United Nation's oil-for-food program. The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday said Chevron settled charges brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act without admitting or denying allegations that kickbacks were made as part of oil purchases in 2001 and 2002. But the US attorney for the Southern District of New York said the nation's second-largest oil company still could...

Sixty-six residents of a Salt Lake City neighborhood are suing Chevron over a pair of oil spills in 2010. The lawsuit filed in federal court Friday claims their properties near Red Butte Creek have been damaged by the spills and residual oil poses potential health problems. Attorney Paul Durham says the group will seek damages in the tens of millions of dollars. State regulators say a pipeline failure in June 2010 released 33,000 gallons of oil into Red Butte Creek that killed all the fish at Liberty Lake, as well as large trees.

Chevron Corp. says it is still trying to extinguish a five-day old fire on its rig off Nigeria's coast after presuming two foreign workers dead. Chevron said Friday it is preparing to drill a relief well to fight the fire. Ian Laidlaw, an official from FODE Drilling Ltd., which was operating the rig on Chevron's behalf and employed the two foreign workers, declined to give their nationalities. Chevron announced Thursday that a search for the missing workers had been called off. The San Ramon, California-based energy company says 152 other workers were rescued from the...

Chevron Corp. says it has ended its search for two workers who went missing in a fire on an offshore rig near Nigeria's coast. Chevron said in a statement Thursday it extends its condolences to the families of the missing persons. However, it did not declare them dead and declined to give more details. The American energy company says it has accounted for 152 workers who had been present on the gas rig and a nearby barge when the fire started Monday. It said two workers were treated for minor burns.

Chevron Corp. on Wednesday urged Ecuador's authorities to investigate the conduct of plaintiffs' lawyers and a judge who handed down an $18 billion decision in an oil pollution case. The oil company said in a statement that it submitted a letter to the country's prosecutor general alleging there was fraud and corruption in the case. In the letter, the company accused the plaintiffs' lawyers of working with Judge Nicolas Zambrano to draft the February judgment. Karen Hinton, U.S. spokeswoman for the Ecuadoreans who won the judgment against the company, dismissed those...

Federal prosecutors in Brazil, citing environmental damage, are seeking $10.6 billion from Chevron following an offshore oil spill. They also want Chevron, the second-largest US oil company, and Transocean Ltd., a drilling contractor for Chevron, to suspend operations in Brazil. The leak started Nov. 7 as a test well was being drilled 230 miles off the coast. Officials say more than 110,000 gallons of oil leaked into the ocean. Chevron did not immediately comment yesterday. Its stock fell to the lowest price since 2004.

Turns out that Tiger Woods won the last edition of the Chevron World Challenge. Chevron has decided not to renew its title sponsorship of the tournament that Woods hosts at Sherwood Country Club to benefit his foundation. The company had been the title sponsor for four years. Tournament director Greg McLaughlin says he feels confident that he will be able to find another title sponsor. The tournament has had three title sponsors since it began in 1999. Meanwhile, McLaughlin says Sherwood Country Club has extended its contract to host the tournament through 2015.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - K.J. Choi opened with five straight birdies. Tiger Woods looked as good as he did in Australia, making his fourth birdie with a 3-iron to an elevated green on the par-5 fifth that covered the flag. And then, without warning, the wind showed up yesterday in the foothills of Sherwood Country Club. Choi held his own in gusts up to 30 miles per hour and finished with a 6-under-par 66, giving him a three-shot lead over Woods and Steve Stricker in the Chevron World Challenge.

QUITO, Ecuador — An Ecuadoran judge ruled yesterday in an epic environmental case that Chevron Corp. was responsible for oil drilling contamination in a wide swath of Ecuador’s northern jungle and ordered the oil giant to pay $9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs. The amount was far below the $27.3 billion award recommended by a court-appointed expert but appeared to be the highest damage award ever in an environmental lawsuit. But whether the plaintiffs — including indigenous groups who say their hunting and fishing grounds were decimated by toxic wastewater that also raised the...

Chevron Corp. says it is still trying to extinguish a five-day old fire on its rig off Nigeria's coast after presuming two foreign workers dead. Chevron said Friday it is preparing to drill a relief well to fight the fire. Ian Laidlaw, an official from FODE Drilling Ltd., which was operating the rig on Chevron's behalf and employed the two foreign workers, declined to give their nationalities. Chevron announced Thursday that a search for the missing workers had been called off. The San Ramon, California-based energy company says 152 other workers were...

Tiger Woods knows he's playing better than he has in the last two years, and he has the leaderboard to prove it. Woods hit a half-dozen extraordinary shots Friday in the Chevron World Challenge on his way to a 5-under 67, giving him a three-shot lead over Matt Kuchar and K.J. Choi going into the weekend at Sherwood Country Club. It was the second straight tournament that Woods had the 36-hole lead. Three weeks ago at the Australian Open, he was one shot ahead until a 75 in the third round.