Chevron to pay $13.1 million in California oil spill settlements

(Reuters) — Chevron will pay $13.1 million in settlement agreements with two California agencies for past oil spills in Kern County, the state said Wednesday.

Chevron, which has already paid for the cleanup costs for its oil spills in 2019, will pay $5.6 million to the California Department of Conservation and $7.5 million to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Chevron spilled a minimum of 800,000 gallons of oil and water into a creek bed in Kern County in 2019, according to local media.

Of the money collected, $5.6 million will go toward ongoing work to plug old, orphaned wells and $7.5 million will go toward environmental enhancement projects, oil wildlife response preparedness and future spill response funding.

CDFW documented more than 70 oil spills between 2018 and 2023 in Kern County attributable to Chevron, which accounted for more than 446,600 gallons (10,633 barrels) of oil spilled.