Latest news with #FozdoAmazonas
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Petrobras to have drill ship ready for travel to Brazil's Foz do Amazonas by month's end, sources say
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 20 (Reuters) - Brazilian oil firm Petrobras ( opens new tab will have a drill ship ready to make the trip to the northern state of Amapa by the end of the month, three sources close to the matter told Reuters, as the company rushes for a drilling license for the Foz do Amazonas basin. According to the sources, work to clear corals from the underside of the drilling vessel is almost done, and then it would be ready to leave for the region considered Brazil's most promising frontier for oil exploration. On Monday, Brazil's environmental agency Ibama approved state-run Petrobras' concept of an emergency plan to assist local fauna in case of an oil spill, with the firm now expected to run a simulation that it said is the last step before being granted the license. The drill ship would take 20 to 30 days to get to Amapa after leaving Rio de Janeiro, where it currently is, meaning the whole process could be done by end of June, said a source. The date for the simulation will be set in common agreement between Petrobras and Ibama. But it would be "difficult" for it to happen in June, a source at Ibama told Reuters, adding they would have to move personnel around to run the simulation. Ibama's staff was mostly against Petrobras' bid, having signed a document in February saying the plan to rescue fauna had only a "remote possibility" of being successful. The environmentally sensitive region is home to vast coral reefs, opens new tab, and coastal Indigenous communities. In 2023, Ibama denied a Petrobras request to drill in the area, which the company immediately appealed, stoking divisions in Brazil's government between environmental advocates and allies pushing for oil and gas development in the region.
Reuters
20-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Petrobras gets a win in Amazon drilling push but future licensing in doubt
RIO DE JANEIRO, May 20 (Reuters) - A decision by Brazilian environmental agency Ibama on Monday will let state-run oil firm Petrobras ( opens new tab move a step closer to drilling for oil in a coveted offshore region, but it came with an important caveat for future permits in the area. Documents seen by Reuters show Ibama head Rodrigo Agostinho warned in his decision against "disorderly multiplication of future requests for environmental licenses" in the Foz do Amazonas basin, an oil frontier near the mouth of the Amazon River. The area, in the northernmost part of Brazil's Equatorial Margin, is considered Petrobras' most promising oil frontier, sharing geology with nearby Guyana, where Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab is developing huge fields. But Agostinho said it would be hard to issue "fragmented and successive exploration licenses" in the Foz do Amazonas basin without a complex environmental study known as an AAAS that could take years to complete. Ibama had previously requested an AAAS to evaluate Petrobras' bid, but Brazil's solicitor-general issued a legal opinion that such a study should not hold up licensing. Agostinho's renewed demand adds to uncertainty about future licensing in the region, where Brazil is preparing to offer new blocks at a June auction. For now, the agency chief granted approval to a Petrobras proposal for how it would assist local fauna in the event of an oil spill in the environmentally sensitive region, which includes vast coral reefs, opens new tab and coastal Indigenous communities. Petrobras said it welcomed the decision on Monday, taking it as a green light to run a test of its environmental emergency plan, which it called the last step before a final licensing decision. The progress for Petrobras represents a loss for Ibama's technical staff, which had signed a document in February saying the plan to rescue fauna in case of an oil spill had only a "remote possibility" of being successful. In 2023, Ibama denied a Petrobras request to drill in the area, which the company immediately appealed, stoking divisions in Brazil's government between environmental advocates and allies pushing for oil and gas development in the region.
