[LEFT]10:55 26 March 2012 (Dow Jones) After several months of harsh rhetoric following a small offshore spill in November, Brazilian officials appear to be softening their language against [/LEFT]Chevron[LEFT] (CVX), says Raymond James. A senior official of the oil and gas regulatory said last week at a congressional hearing that CVX was not guilty of negligence, while a top senator from the ruling Workers Party criticized the recently filed criminal charges against executives from CVX and Transocean (RIG). The change in tone indicates a realization that the response to the spill was raising questions among other international energy companies and risked scaring away other operators, the firm says. CVX is up 1.4% up at $107.86.
[I]- Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires[/I][/LEFT]