Brazil Wants Chevron to Stop Drilling (CVX, BP)

The government of Brazil is asking Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) to stop its drilling program offshore of Brazil following a 2,400 barrel leak. The federal prosecutor is also asking the company to pay $10.7 billion in damages for the November spill.

Chevron has not commented on either request.

The $10.7 billion is not being demanded, but asked for, according the report from Bloomberg. Does that mean that Chevron can decline the invitation?

When the Macondo well owned by BP plc (NYSE: BP) exploded and killed 11 workers and spilled about 5 million of barrels of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, the US government within a few weeks forced BP to set up a $20 billion fund to pay for clean-up.

Granted that there is a sizable difference in scope between the two incidents, but doesn’t it seem that Brazil might want to get a bit sterner with Chevron. After all, no oil company will ever volunteer to pay anything, ever, if it can be avoided.