RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil -- Brazil's government has slapped the maximum penalty for environmental crime on its state oil giant Petrobras for a major spill in Rio's scenic bay, its worst ecological disaster in 25 years.


Henri Philippe Reichstul, the president of Petrobras, which admitted a week ago that its flagship refinery had oozed a whopping 1.3 million liters of fuel oil into the city's Guanabara Bay, said Tuesday the company would pay the 50 million reais ($28 million) fine along with all other cleanup costs.


Also Tuesday, the company issued its initial investigation report, which blamed the accident on a pipeline that ruptured due to a combination of thermal expansion causing pressure inside the duct and unstable footing underneath it.