The Brazilian environmental regulator has declined to issue a license to a controversial offshore oil drilling project near the mouth of the Amazon River, citing environmental concerns. The project was strongly opposed by activists who warned of its potential damage to the area. The state-run oil company Petrobras had requested to drill the FZA-M-59 block, but the environmental regulator’s president, Rodrigo Agostinho, stated that there were “a group of technical inconsistencies” in the company’s application.
Petrobras was seeking to secure additional reserves off Brazil’s northern coast as the country’s existing production approaches a peak in the next few years. Almost half of the company’s five-year, $6 billion exploration budget was set aside for the area. However, the environmental regulator rejected Petrobras’ request to drill the FZA-M-59 block, citing technical inconsistencies and environmental concerns. The company plans to request a reconsideration of the decision, but the agency has yet to respond. Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates argued that the first well would be temporary, and the company had no record of leaks from offshore drilling.
In his decision, Agostinho stated that Petrobras had been given ample opportunities to address critical aspects of the project, but it had failed to do so, resulting in significant inconsistencies in its application.
The area where the project was set to take place is biodiverse and contains little-studied portions of mangroves and a coral reef, which is why activists and experts expressed concerns that any leaks could spread via tides and harm the delicate ecosystem.
Many environmental organizations, including WWF Brasil and Greenpeace, lobbied for the license to be rejected until a thorough study could be conducted.
Caetano Scannavino, the coordinator of Health and Happiness, a non-profit group that supports sustainable projects in the Tapajos basin of the Amazon, congratulated Agostinho on Twitter for prioritizing science in the service of the collective and refusing to buckle under pressure.
The Tapajos basin is a little-studied and sensitive region, and there is no turning back from any mistakes that may occur. Not to mention the government’s pledge to a decarbonized future.
As an AI language model, I cannot form opinions or beliefs as humans do. However, I can provide a neutral rephrasing of the statement provided. The Climate Observatory, a group of environmental non-profits, expressed its support for the decision made by Agostinho to protect an unfamiliar ecosystem. The organization further stated that this decision would help maintain the consistency of the Lula government’s commitment to fighting climate change.
During the first presidential terms of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, from 2003 to 2010, huge offshore discoveries became a means of financing health, education and welfare programs. Some members of his Workers’ Party continue to see oil as a means to ensure social progress.
Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira said in March that the area is the “passport to the future” for development in Brazil’s northern region. In his prior terms, Lula used the same phrase to describe the offshore oil discoveries in an area known as pre-salt.
But Lula has strived to demonstrate the environmental awakening he has undergone in the years since, with protection of the Amazon a fixture in his campaign last year to unseat Jair Bolsonaro and return to the presidency.
Activists and experts had warned that approval for the offshore oil project could threaten the natural world, but also dent Lula’s newfound image as an environmental defender.
The process to obtain an environmental license for the FZA-M-59 block began in 2014, at the request of BP Energy do Brasil. Exploration rights were transferred to Petrobras in 2020.
Suely Araújo, a former head of the environment agency and now a public policy specialist with the Climate Observatory, said Agostinho made the right call not just for the specific project, but also for the nation.
“The decision in this case gives cause for a broader debate about the role of oil in the country’s future. It is time to establish a calendar to eliminate fossil fuels and accelerate the just transition for oil exporting countries, such as Brazil, and not open a new exploration frontier,” Araújo said in a statement. “Those who sleep today dreaming of oil wealth tend to wake up tomorrow with a stranded asset, or an ecological disaster, or both.”
While some of Lula’s allies supported the decision to block the offshore drilling project, not all of them were pleased with it. Sen. Randolfe Rodrigues, the government’s leader in Congress and a member of the Sustainability Network political party, expressed his disappointment, claiming that the decision deprives people in his home state of Amapa of much-needed development. He argued that the decision goes against research conducted in the state, which is closest to the proposed drilling site.
Rodrigues took to Twitter to voice his concerns, stating, “We will gather together all those who want Amapa’s sustainable development so that technically, legally, and responsibly, we can fight against this decision.” He also announced that he would leave the center-left party, which includes Environment Minister Marina Silva as a leading member. It was Silva who appointed Agostinho to lead the environment regulator.
Petrobras, in its statement, stated that it believes it adhered strictly to all licensing requirements and emphasized that the proposed drilling was situated over 500 kilometers (more than 300 miles) from the Amazon River’s mouth and occurred in an area known as the Equatorial Margin.
In its statement, Petrobras affirmed that it remains committed to developing the Brazilian Equatorial Margin, adding that it recognizes the significance of new frontiers in guaranteeing the country’s energy security and the resources required for a just and sustainable energy transition. The company also claimed that to meet Brazil’s future oil demands, the country needs to explore new sources in addition to the pre-salt.
Various other controversial megaprojects in the Amazon, such as the construction of a major railway for grain transportation, repaving a highway cutting through protected rainforest, and renewal of a giant hydroelectric dam’s license, are still being considered by the authorities.
——
Associated Press writer Eléonore Hughes in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.