Chevron Corporation has paid (more like “Shelled out” ha ha lol I apologize) a $17.3 million fine to the government of Brazil for a spill near Rio de Janeiro last year. That’s after using a coupon.

The agency said in a Thursday statement that Chevron paid the 35.1 million real ($17.3 million) fine last week for 24 of 25 irregularities detected. The statement did not provide details on the irregularities.

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Some 155,000 gallons of crude are thought to have been released in the November 2011 spill.

The agency said it granted Chevron a 30 percent discount because it paid the fine on time and did not challenge it.

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$17.3 million is a lot of money — at least to poor schlubs like you and me. To Chevron? Eh, not so much.

The company made $26.9 billion last year. In profits, not total earnings. Its profits were 1,555 times the size of the fine it paid. That’s like someone who earns $50,000 a year and who pays a 30 percent tax rate paying a fine of $22.50.

Chevron could have paid a fine of $17.3 million to Brazil every six hours of every day of 2011 and still come out ahead on the year. The system works.

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