Brazilian prosecutors said on Saturday that they will file criminal charges against 17 executives of US oil giant Chevron and drilling contractor Transocean for a new oil leak near the offshore well where at least 110,000 gallons spilled late last year.
Those targeted include George Buck, chief operating officer for Chevron's Brazilian arm.
Government spokesman Mr del Negri said prosecutors would file the charges including "environmental crimes" in court next week.
A federal judge signed an order on Saturday stopping the group from leaving the country.
The size of the new leak is unknown. Brazil's National Petroleum Agency said it had been detected when an oil slick appeared on the ocean surface.
Brazil's environmental protection agency has given Chevron until Tuesday to provide "detailed information on the action taken to mitigate the environmental impact" of the leak.
Chevron, the foreign oil company with the largest operations in Brazil, has argued that the country’s response to the November spill was an “overreaction.”
“I’ve never seen a spill this small with this size of reaction,” Ali Moshiri, the head of Chevron’s Latin America operations, told the Wall Street Journal in late 2011.
Such comments did not go down well in Brazil. Authorities accused Chevron of lying about the scope of the November spill.
Now Buck, an American, is barred from leaving Brazil and a lengthy legal battle awaits him and other employees at Chevron and Transocean.
Judge Magalhães issued his ruling preventing the departure of the 17 Chevron and Transocean employees at the request of a federal prosecutor. “There is no doubt the exit of these people from the country, at this moment, would generate considerable risk to the investigation,” the judge said.
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