Brazil's federal prosecutor on Wednesday said it wants Chevron Corp. and Transocean Ltd. to shut down operations in Brazil, as it sued the two firms for 20 billion Brazilian reais ($11 billion) in damages allegedly caused by an oil spill in early November.
The prosecutor's office in Campos, Rio de Janeiro state, brought suit against Chevron and Transocean for the environmental damage.
It also wants a court injunction to stop the two firms' local operations while the broader case continues, according to a statement posted on the prosecutor's website.
The drilling accident on Nov. 7 caused an oil spill at an appraisal well at the Frade oil field, which is located in deep Atlantic waters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state.
The prosecutor found that Chevron and Transocean "weren't able to control the damage caused by the spill of nearly 3,000 barrels of oil, which shows a lack of planning and environmental management by the companies," according to the statement.
The lawsuit was submitted to Brazil's federal-court system Wednesday, said Karla Pacheco, an adviser for the prosecutor, Eduardo Santos de Oliveira.
It will take "one or two days" to determine which judge in the city of Campos, in Rio de Janeiro state, will hear the case, Ms. Pacheco said.
Chevron didn't immediately respond to requests for comment about the lawsuit.
Transocean, which operated the rig responsible for drilling the appraisal well that caused the accident, said that it hadn't yet seen the lawsuit.
"We have not seen anything in writing," Transocean spokesman Guy Cantwell said in a statement. "We are continuing to cooperate with all the authorities in Brazil."
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