Luanda — The US Oil Company "Chevron" has been fined for an incident reported on the block 2 platform in Soyo, northern Zaire on July 1.

The information was released Wednesday by the Technical Executive Committee of the National Contingency Plan on oil spills.

The executive secretary of the Committee, Júlio Inglês, told the press that the decision to fine the US Oil Company followed an analysis of the report on the said incident drafted by the technical team that travelled to the Soyo municipality.

Júlio Inglês said that Chevron will be notified with a view to an immediate opening of negotiations on offenses and removal of equipment that sank of the Soyo coast.

The source assured that after the above mentioned actions imposed on Chevron, the Committee will start an audit and consultation plan and an inspection visit to the oil and gas platforms operating in the country, to check the environmental control, prevention and monitoring mechanism.

To this end, the Technical Committee has approved a plan for training of inspectors for the areas attached to the Contingency Plan on Oil Spills, with a view to strengthening the institutional capacity in the context of environmental risks and damage.

The Technical Executive Committee on National Contingency Plan on Oil Spill comprises the ministries of Environment (coordinator), Oil, Finance, National Defence, Interior, Fire Brigade and Energy and Water.