A shocking find: new high-voltage electric eels revealed

Yahoo – AFP, Sara HUSSEIN, September 10, 2019

DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin,
including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt (AFP Photo/Leandro SOUSA)

Tokyo (AFP) - Call it a shock discovery: DNA research has revealed two entirely new species of electric eel in the Amazon basin, including one capable of delivering a record-breaking jolt.

The findings are evidence, researchers say, of the incredible diversity in the Amazon rainforest -- much of it still unknown to science -- and illustrate why it is so important to protect a habitat at risk from deforestation, logging and fires.

"In spite of all human impact on the Amazon rainforest in the last 50 years, we can still discover giant fishes like the two new species of electric eels," said lead researcher C. David de Santana, a zoologist working with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

The research "indicates that an enormous amount of species are waiting to be discovered in the Amazon rainforest, many of which may harbour cures for diseases or inspire technological innovations," he told AFP.

The electric eel, in fact a kind of fish rather than an eel, inspired the design of the first electric battery.

For centuries, it was believed that a single species existed throughout the region known as Greater Amazonia, encompassing parts of countries including Brazil, Suriname and Guyana.

But as part of a project to better understand electric eels and map wildlife in remote parts of South America, de Santana and his team decided to test that conventional wisdom.

At first glance, they found little visible difference between creatures collected from different parts of the Amazon basin, suggesting the fish were indeed part of a single species.

But further analysis, including of DNA from 107 samples they collected, upended centuries of assumptions and revealed three different species: the previously known Electrophorus electricus, along with Electrophorus voltai and Electrophorus varii.

And their research also uncovered another stunning result: E. voltai is capable of delivering a jolt of 860 volts -- much more than the 650 volts previously recorded from electric eels -- "making it the strongest bioelectricity generator known."

'Hidden' functions

The findings, published Tuesday in the Nature Communications journal, theorise that the three species evolved from a shared ancestor millions of years ago.

The researchers found each of the three species has a clearly defined habitat, with E. electricus living in the Guiana Shield region, E. voltai in the Brazilian Shield, a highland further south, and E. varii inhabiting slow-flowing lowland Amazon basin waters.

And they suggest that the particularly strong electric shock that E. voltai can produce could be an adaptation to life in highland waters, where conductivity is less effective.

Electric eels use their shock tactics for a variety of reasons, including hunting prey, self-defence, and navigation.

They generate electricity from three specialised electric organs that can emit charges of varying strengths for different purposes.

But the discovery of the new species raises the possibility that different types of eels may have evolved different ways of generating electricity, perhaps better suited to their diverse environments.

De Santana hopes to compare the genomes of the three species, searching for clues that could offer insights useful to a variety of fields.

"Electric eel physiology inspired the design of Volta's first electric battery, provided a basis... for treating neurodegenerative diseases and recently promoted the advance of hydrogel batteries that could be used to power medical implants," he said.

The newly discovered species may reveal a "hidden variety" of functions "of interest to the broader scientific community."

Brazil to sue dam spill mining companies for $5.2 bn

Yahoo - AFP, Damian Wroclavsky with Laura Binilla in Rio de Janeiro

Brazil's government says it will sue mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale for $5.2

 billion in clean-up costs and damages after the deadly collapse of a waste water

dam at an iron-ore mine (AFP Photo/Fred Loureido)

Brasília (AFP) - Brazil's government said Friday it will sue mining giants BHP Billiton and Vale for $5.2 billion in clean-up costs and damages after the deadly collapse of a waste water dam at an iron-ore mine.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said a lawsuit would be filed demanding that the companies and mine operator Samarco, which they co-own, create a fund of 20 billion reais. The money would go to environmental recovery and compensation for victims.

"There was a huge impact from an environmental point of view," Teixeira said at a press conference in the capital Brasilia.

"It is not a natural disaster, it is a disaster prompted by economic activity, but of a magnitude equivalent to those disasters created by forces of nature."

The suit will be filed on Monday, Attorney General Luis Inacio Adams said.

At least 13 people died and some 11 remain missing from the flood of mud and waste water triggered by the breaking dam at the Samarco iron ore mine near Mariana in southeastern Brazil on November 5.

The deluge swept down the River Doce to the Atlantic, sparking claims of major contamination, although the mining companies insist there is no serious pollution.

The fund being demanded by the government would dwarf initial estimates by Deutsche Bank that a clean-up could cost about $1 billion.

Adams said that the companies would be asked to pay the amount out gradually, as a percentage of their profits.

"The measure should guarantee long-term financing for actions to revitalize the (river) basin," Adams' office said in a statement.

Cooperation or denial?

Adams said he hoped the powerful corporations -- BHP Billiton is the world's biggest miner and Vale is the world's biggest iron ore specialist -- would cooperate with the government. Both have said they want to meet their obligations.

"The scale of the damage is very big but the companies have announced measures that show they are interested in repairing their image," Adams said.

Teixeira described the environmental impact as devastating and difficult to repair.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will attend the UN Climate Conference

 - COP21 - in Paris, where host of the summit, French Foreign Minister Laurent 

Fabius, has said he was counting on Brazil to help seal a global pact (AFP 

Photo/Evaristo Sa)

"What was lost there is lost. The biological chain that was broken will not be put back together in any way as it was before. We have to create conditions so that nature establishes new ecological conditions," she said.

Earlier Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Vale announced a compensation fund, but did not give figures. Executives also sounded a defiant note, rejecting allegations that the River Doce has been badly polluted.

Vania Somaville, director of human resources, health and safety at Vale, told a press conference that lead, arsenic, nickel and chrome had been detected at some points along the river.

However, Somaville argued that the potentially dangerous contaminants were not carried there by the waste water from the mine.

"They were (already) there at the edges or in the bed of the river" and were disturbed in the flood, she said.

"The good news is that these materials did not dissolve in the water" and are now diminishing, she said.

This was in stark contrast to a report by two UN experts on Wednesday accusing the corporations and the Brazilian government of failing to respond to a toxic disaster.

The UN's special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, John Knox, said the equivalent of "20,000 Olympic swimming pools of toxic mud" spewed into the River Doce.

CEO on the defensive

Vale's CEO, Murilo Ferreira, has been criticized by environmental activists for what many saw as his slow response to the disaster and his attempt to distance himself from the tragedy by saying that Vale was only a shareholder in Samarco.

He told journalists Friday in a breaking voice that "the disaster has been extremely painful" for him and other executives.

"My soul is saddened and disturbed... We are very worried that there are 5,200 people who don't know what the future holds," he said, referring to the many jobs suspended in and around Samarco after the accident.

However, Ferreira once more sought to draw a distinction between Vale and the Samarco operation, saying that help was being offered only out of "solidarity."

"In four years I was never at the Samarco offices in Mariana," he said. Until the accident "I didn't know them... We don't know who their clients are or their prices."

Pearl Jam donates concert proceeds to Brazil mine victims

Yahoo – AFP, 21 Nov 2015

Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam performs during the fourth annual Global Citizen
 Festival in Central Park Manhattan on September 26, 2015 in New York
 (AFP Photo/Kena Betancur)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - US rock group Pearl Jam donated proceeds from a concert in Brazil to victims of a toxic mining spill that killed 12 people and was the country's worst environmental disaster.

The group's singer Eddie Vedder interrupted a show Friday night in Belo Horizonte, capital of the southeast state of Minas Gerais -- where the disaster occurred November 5 -- and called for the mining company involved to be severely punished.

As seen on a video on the news website G1, the group got a standing ovation when Vedder said the take from that concert would go to victims of the disaster.

It struck when a dam collapsed at the waste reservoirs of an iron ore mine, unleashing a torrent of yellowish muck that all but buried a village, left 280,000 people without water and smothered thousands of fish, turtles and other animals.

Besides the 12 dead, another 12 people remain missing.

The mining facility is owned by Samarco, a joint venture between the mining giants BHP Billiton of Australia and Vale of Brazil.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said Friday it was the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history and that it will take 30 years to clean the basin of the Doce River, into which the sludge flowed.

Samarco has already been hit with damages, fines and frozen funds totalling more than $400 million.

Related Article:

Australia's Barrier Reef 'risks becoming dumping ground': WWF

Dead fish in Rio Olympic bay baffle scientists

Yahoo – AFP, Claire de Oliveira Neto, 8 Nov 2014

Thousands of dead fish have begun mysteriously washing up in the polluted Rio

 bay that will host sailing events at the 2016 Olympics -- and experts are at a

loss to explain why (AFP Photo/Yasuyoshi Chiba)

Rio de Janeiro (AFP) - Thousands of dead fish have begun mysteriously washing up in the polluted Rio bay that will host sailing events at the 2016 Olympics -- and experts are at a loss to explain why.

Guanabara Bay has already been the subject of concern amongst sailors who are to compete in Rio because of the human sewage that gets pumped into its waters.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has expressed confidence that Guanabara will be fit for purpose by the time of the games.

A fisherman weighs fish in Paqueta Island,

 located at Guanabara bay in Rio de

 Janeiro, Brazil, on November 5, 2014

(AFP Photo/Yasuyoshi Chiba)

But the recent appearance of thousands of dead fish, and the foul stench of their rotting carcasses, has attracted further scrutiny with the Olympics less than two years away.

Scientists are baffled by the phenomenon but say there is no evidence so far to suggest pollution is the cause.

The foul odor first took over the usually peaceful Paqueta Island, where cars are banned and the population of 4,500 people travels on horseback or bicycle among the only baobab trees in Brazil.

With the help of a bulldozer, a municipal company has removed 20 tonnes of dead sabalo fish -- from the Clupeidae family of herrings and sardines -- as well as four dead sea turtles.

"Tests showed that this is not a matter of chemical or toxic water pollution," Rio do Janeiro State University oceanographer David Zee told AFP.

Leandro Daemon of the National Institute for the Environment, or INEA, agreed that water testing had not identified any toxic chemicals or any unusual change in the water's pH (potential of hydrogen), salinity or oxygen.

"We have no answer yet about what happened, but we can certainly exclude the hypothesis of a chemical pollution killing the fish," he said.

'Don't go in'

But not everyone is so sure.

Worried fishermen and islanders are pointing the finger at the petrochemical activities of state giant Petrobras.

"We want to know why so many fish have died. The rotten smell is horrible and there are many flies on the island. The authorities tell us nothing," said Vilma Leocadio of the Paqueta citizens' association.

"We are afraid, we do not bathe in the sea any more and do not buy fish here."

Rosimere Figueiredo, 52, said Paqueta was in distress.

"I do not encourage you to step in the water with all those dead bodies of fish. We see them dying," she said.

Five of the fish were sent Tuesday to the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's biology department for analysis, and the results will be announced in a week.

Experts want to know if there are any signs of pollution or disease in the entrails or gills.

High temperatures to blame?

One hypothesis is that the culprit is predatory fishing.

At this time of year, fishing is prohibited, but it is common for fishermen to still work, catching fish like sabalo that have a lower market value, Zee said.

But the expert said the likeliest scenario was that the deaths are caused by "thermal pollution" of the water.

Worried fishermen and islanders are

 pointing the finger at the petrochemical

 activities of state giant Petrobras (AFP

Photo/Yasuyoshi Chiba)

"Sabalo are very sensitive to any lack of oxygen. Warm water temperatures such as those recorded several days ago -- ranging from 27 to 30 degrees Celsius (81 to 86 Fahrenheit) -- in shallow water decrease the solubility of oxygen," Zee said.

He noted that Paqueta is located at the bottom of the Rio bay, where water circulation and exchange is more difficult, a phenomenon exacerbated by the low tide.

"What is striking is the duration of this mortality and also the high temperature of the water," said biologist Mario Moscatelli, who has studied the bay's waters for 20 years.

"I flew over the area in early October, and fish were floating. At first, we thought they were thrown into the sea by fishermen. But before too long, I saw them dying in a way that seemed they were missing oxygen."

He said the sabalo, being more sensitive, are the first fish to die in the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, which contains sea water carried through a canal in Rio's southern zone.

"But in case of chemical contamination, other species will die," he said. "We have more questions than answers. We must wait for the results of the analysis."

Antarctic Treaty signatories make marine protection progress

Yahoo – AFP,  8 May 2014

Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira (foreground on screens) delivers

 a speech during the opening session of the XXXVII Antarctic Treaty Consultative

Meeting (ATCM), in Brasilia, on April 28, 2014 (AFP Photo/Evaristo Sa)

Brasília (AFP) - Antarctic Treaty signatories made progress towards future protection of the icy continent's marine life, NGO officials said.

Authorities at the treaty's annual meeting, in Brasilia this year, "sent a strong message of support" to the commission overseeing Antarctic wildlife protection, said Mark Epstein, director of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition.

Member countries strongly urged "designating marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean," he added.

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources was launched in 1982 to try to conserve marine life there amid rising commercial interest in Antarctic krill resources, a main component of the ecosystem.

Progress on the issue had been at a standstill since 2012. The commission, based in Hobart, Australia, has held three meetings since then and has been unable to get Russia and Ukraine on board.

"The Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting has breathed new life into the marine protected areas process after the last two years of challenges and disappointments," said the Antarctic Ocean Alliance's Steve Campbell, whose group includes large players such as the WWF and Greenpeace.

Waters off Antarctica had long been largely protected, but as fishing advances into the area, many species and ecosystems face previously unknown threats.

The Antarctic Treaty establishes that the continent will not be militarized, can be used for scientific research and should be free of territorial claims.

Related Articles:

"Around the Horn" - (a message from Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

“… Now, in the process of all of this, there's going to be renewed interest in Antarctica, and you're going to find some interesting things about the land under the ice. The topography of the land under the ice does not match the topography of the ice above. Some astonishing shapes will be revealed when you map the actual land under the ice. Points of mountains are going to be revealed, giving an entire different idea of what Antarctica might have been and what its purpose really is. The continent that is uninhabitable by Human Beings may very well be the engine of life for Human Beings. And I will leave it at that. …”

Oyster farmers in Brazil embrace sustainability

Deutsche Welle, 17 June 2013

Sustainable oyster farmers have turned Brazil's Bay of Guaratuba into a model of eco-friendly food production. They are producing some of the tastiest oysters in the world and educating locals about how to be green.

In the southern state of Paraná, a large inlet in the middle of dense Atlantic forest forms the Bay of Guaratuba. This is one of Brazil's most biologically rich ecosystems. On the calm waters of the vast bay, the tranquility is only broken by the occasional sound of human activity.

Nereu de Oliveira discovered this place about a decade ago. He liked the area so much that he decided to leave his job as a lawyer and open an oyster cultivation site on the bay. He built a restaurant and environment education center and started to get interested in new ways to protect the environment.

In 2005, he decided to partner with Cultimar, an initiative of the Federal University of Paraná. Cultimar's goal is to support sustainable aquaculture in Brazil.

Oliveira left his carreer as a lawyer
to pursue a life in aquaculture

Oliveira told DW that he farms oysters in a sustainable way, instead of extracting oysters from the wild population. This way, the shellfish continue to fill their place in the ecosystem.

In order to encourage oyter farmers to support sustainable practices, Cultimar has created a health certificate. This gives local oyster farmers - who are so proud of their world-famous oysters - an official standard to aim for.

Lab certification

Scientific testing of oyster quality is done at a university in Paraná's capital city Curitiba. Within the laboratories, water gurgles and bubbles in basins where ocean organisms are kept for examination. Researcher Karin Yamashiro explained how the oyster testing works.

"We open them up, collect the oyster as well as the intervulvar liquid, put it in sterile machines that homogenize the samples, then extract the liquid - one milliliter to test for E. coli and staphylococcus, another milliliter to identify salmonella," Yamashiro said.

Ostrensky says environmental education
has shifted thinking in this region

In addition to scientific monitoring, the Cultimar project works to distribute new knowledge and practices in local coastal communities. Antonio Ostrensky heads the university's aquaculture research institute. "The fact is, you can't just talk science to the oyster producers. They're not going to understand the science. You have to translate it for them. Simplify," Ostrensky told DW.

The health certificate is something any oyster farmer can understand and appreciate. The technical process adds value to the oyster and the certificate provides an easy tool for marketing sustainable practices.

And consumers like the extra safety measures. Oysters are ocean organisms that filter water and can carry disease. So consumers are willing to pay more for oysters they know are certified as safe for consumption.

Food security

As Brazil's economy expands, mariculture is becoming more important, especially because it has a lower impact on the environment than other food production activities. Communities involved in new sustainable oyster production also have an opportunity to generate stable income. They are also able to stay on their land. In nearby coastal regions, developers have looked to exapnd high-rise residential communities with waterfront views, instead of finding ways to preserve the environment and support local industry.

Small-scale production of oysters is a sustainable alternative to
traditional fishing

Oyster cultivation is a good alternative to the overfishing o that used to take place in Guaratuba before Cultimar came into the picture. Ostrensky says the project has shifted peoples' thinking.

"Nowadays if you go there, you see a culture that involves much more than production; it involves environmental education, restaurants, tourism," Ostrensky said. "I think the scale we've been working on has brought about a great transformation."

Guaratuba oysters are considered
some of the tastiest in the world

Oliveira says that a continued focus on oyster cultivation will help preserve the region, because healthy oysters demand water free from impurities. He agreed with Ostrensky that the project has transformed the region.

"You see an evolution in the people of the region. Altogether, it ends up improving the people's lives," Oliveira said. "The world needs protein for human consumption. Fish, oysters, shrimp and other seafood can all contribute to a healthy diet."

Oliveira even believes that sustainable fishing practices in Guaratuba could be replicated in other regions of Brazil, and around the world.

BRAZIL: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Up on Lagoon Shore

Latino Daily News, March 14, 2013

Photo: BRAZIL: Thousands of Dead Fish Wash Up on Lagoon Shore

Thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, a Rio de Janeiro tourist attraction, Brazilian authorities said Wednesday.

A large amount of organic matter that entered the lagoon as a result of two recent large storms consumed oxygen and brought it down to critically low levels, Carlos Alberto Muniz, the municipal environment secretary, told Efe.

This situation caused a massive die-off of shad, whose number had risen since mid-February after the fish had entered the lagoon to spawn, Muniz said.

The city government now is working to remove the rotting fish and the strong odor associated with them and had collected 12 tons of dead shad as of Wednesday, the official said.

The lagoon is connected to the Atlantic Ocean via a canal that splits the beaches of Ipanema and Leblon, and that feeding-in of seawater on Wednesday helped improve oxygen levels, Muniz said.

A 65-year-old fisherman named Walter told Efe on the shores of Rodrigo de Freitas, which is to be cleaned up and used for aquatic events such as rowing in the 2016 Olympics, that he believes the large fish die-off occurred because the water in the lagoon is not renewed.

Related:

Falling Birds & Death Fish (Water Cycle - New Mini Ice Age) - (“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why) - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

The second thing the melting ice caps give you is about ecology. I'll give you this prediction in a moment. There is a Human 3D paradigm that says everything gets "used" and then goes away. But nature doesn't work that way, and our prediction is going to go against everything you have been told. I'm going to give you a parable and the prediction in a moment, but before that, I'm going to give you the explanation of the birds and the fish.

In the last few weeks, fish have been washing up dead in certain lakes by the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Birds have been falling from the sky. I'm going to make a statement way in advance of what science is going to tell you. All of it can be traced to the water cycle - all of it. It's always about the weather, a cycle of weather you've not seen before. Do you remember a few years ago when whales were beaching themselves? Did you notice that this attribute stopped? But while they were beaching themselves every year, many Human Beings were in fear, saying, "It's the end of the world. They're committing suicide."

The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often.

The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does.

You might say, "Well, nature's way is severe." It is not severe. It is a positive learning system that allows generations of birds to be around next time. The few deaths allow for the many to continue their life cycle and their lineage on the earth.

I want you to analyze the fish that have washed up. Let science reveal this as well. I want you to analyze the fish. They have something in common. They're all juveniles. And why is that? What do you know about the water cycle? What do you know about cold water and the life cycle of certain fish and their habits of reproduction? I will tell you the layers of water are changing in temperature and that is going to change the life cycle of the oceans and lakes. The juvenile fish are the most susceptible to death by becoming too cold, especially the ones of the kind that washed up dead. By the tens of thousands, the cold killed them. It is the water cycle. Will it continue? For awhile, until they acclimate, until they recalibrate for the cold - and they will. Nature does that.  

Dolphin Assisted Fishing

I do NOT own this clip in any way or fashion. All credit goes to the BBC. This clip was taken from the Human Planet episode "Oceans - Into The Blue".

Related Article:

Dolphins help Brazilian fisherman catch their prey, then swim off (but what's in it forthem?)

NZ dolphin rescues beached whales

Dolphins rescued from Brazil beach – video

guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 March 2012 

Beachgoers at Arraial do Cabo beach in Brazil rush to the rescue of 30 dolphins on Monday 5 March after they were washed ashore carried by a strong current and were unable to move back into deeper waters. Dozens of people quickly dragged the dolphins away from the shore, returning all to the ocean safely

Related Articles:

Stranded dolphins in Cape Cod baffle scientists

Dozens of pilot whales beach in New Zealand

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

( .. The whales beached themselves because the magnetics of the earth shifted so greatly that their navigational system [the magnetite in their biology, which is their migration compass] steered them right into the land. The land didn't move; the magnetics did. Therefore, you might say their internal inherited migration map was flawed. The reason it's not happening now is because the calves, the generation beyond the one that beached themselves, figured it out and rewrote the maps. Nature [Gaia] does this. So the next generation didn't repeat it. Instead, it realigned itself to the migratory lay lines and now whales don't beach themselves nearly as often.


The magnetics of the planet continue to shift and the birds are unaware. Like the whales, many of the birds have migrated themselves right into a high place in the atmosphere, which pummeled them to death by freezing rain and hail. Then they fall from the sky. It's the weather cycle. Will they continue to do this? Some will, for awhile, and then they will figure it out and recalibrate. That's what nature does. ..)

Chevron faces $10.6bn Brazil legal suit over oil spill

BBC News, 15 December 2011

Related Stories 

• Brazil bans Chevron from drilling
• Chevron fined over Brazil spill
• Chevron to blame for Brazil spill

Chevron says it got the leak
under control on 13 November

Prosecutors in Brazil are demanding $10.6bn (£6.8bn) from US oil company Chevron for environmental damage caused when one of its oil wells leaked off the coast of Rio de Janeiro.

The prosecutors also asked the court to immediately suspend the operations of Chevron and its drilling contractor, Transocean, in Brazil.

Brazil has already fined Chevron $28m for the spill on 8 November.

A Chevron official said the company had not yet been notified of the suit.

The prosecutors who brought the case argued that "Chevron and Transocean weren't capable of controlling the damages from a spill of 3,000 barrels of oil, which proves a lack of environmental planning and management".

They also accused Chevron of keeping information from Brazil's oil regulator, known by its initials ANP.

Chevron has been banned from drilling any new wells for at least three months, while the ANP investigates the spill.

Chevron has accepted full responsibility for the leak.

The company said it had underestimated the pressure of underwater oil deposits while drilling, causing oil to rush up the bore hole and seep into the surrounding seabed.

Related Articles:

Chevron committed to Brazil despite lawsuit: executive

ANP says suspends Chevron drilling rights in Brazil

Chevron takes full responsibility for Brazil oil spill

ANP says suspends Chevron drilling rights in Brazil

Reuters, SAO PAULO, Wed Nov 23, 2011

An aerial view shows oil that seeped from a well operated by Chevron at Frade,

 on the waters in Campos Basin in Rio de Janeiro state November 18, 2011. 

(Credit: Reuters/Rogerio Santana/Handout)

(Reuters) - Brazil's National Oil Regulator (ANP) said on Wednesday that it is suspending the drilling rights of U.S. oil major Chevron in national territory until it clarifies conditions of the recent oil spill in its Frade field.

The ANP also said it has denied Chevron's request to drill into ultra-deep subsalt areas, which hold huge deposits of oil off Brazil's coast.

(Reporting by Reese Ewing)

Related Articles:

Brazil to fine Chevron $28m for Rio oil spill

Chevron takes full responsibility for Brazil oil spill

Brazil police probe Rio de Janeiro Chevron oil spill

Fishermen Sue ConocoPhillips Over China Oil Spill

Brazil police probe Rio de Janeiro Chevron oil spill

BBC News, 17 November 2011

Related Stories 

• Brazil changes oil drilling rules
• Brazil finds massive oil field
• Petrobras in $70bn fund-raising

Chevron says 17 ships have been working to
clear up the oil sheen

Brazilian police are investigating an oil spill in an offshore field operated by the US company Chevron.

Ships are working to disperse the slick 120km (75 miles) off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state, and Chevron says it has plugged the oil well.

Brazil's Energy Minister Edison Lobao has said the company will be "severely punished" if it is found to have failed in its environmental responsibilities.

In recent years Brazil has discovered huge oil reserves in the Atlantic.

The oil is leaking from a well in the Frade oil project, 370km (230 miles) off the Brazilian coast.

Chevron initially estimated that 400-650 barrels of oil had formed a sheen on the water after seeping from the seabed near the well.

But the international environmental group Skytruth said satellite images suggested the spill was many times bigger.

Brazilian energy minister Edison Lobao said the spill "was not as serious as had been announced" and was not moving towards the Brazilian coast.

But he said Brazil's oil agency ANP was monitoring the situation closely and would apply the full force of the law.

"If Chevron is not fulfilling its responsibilities, it will be more severely punished," he said.

ANP said underwater images showed Chevron's effort to permanently seal the well with cement appeared to have been successful, although there appeared to be a residual flow of oil from the seabed.

"The slick is continuing to move away from the coast and dispersing, as is desired," it added.

'Bad faith'

Police environment experts have been sent on navy helicopters to assess the scale of the spill.

Green Party members of the Brazilian parliament have called for a debate on the matter.

MP Sarney Filho said Chevron appeared to have underplayed the scale of the accident.

"What has alarmed us is the lack of transparency on the part of the company and the attempt to minimise the size of the disaster," he told the official news agency Agencia Brasil.

"This is a clear demonstration of bad faith," he added.

Chevron said on Thursday the flow of oil from the ocean floor has been reduced to "infrequent droplets" and the remaining oil sheen on the surface was estimated at less than 65 barrels.

"Chevron continues to fully inform and work with Brazilian government agencies and industry partners on all aspects of this matter," the company said in a statement.

In recent years Brazil has discovered billions of barrels of oil in deep water that could make it one of the world's top five producers.

So far there has been little public debate about the environmental dangers of offshore drilling.

Political discussion has instead focused on how future oil revenues should be divided between different states.

Related Article:

Brazil to fine Chevron $28m for Rio oil spill

Chevron takes full responsibility for Brazil oil spill

Fishermen Sue ConocoPhillips Over China Oil Spill