Brazil’s state-owned oil giant Petrobras will appeal a decision by the environmental protection agency Ibama to deny it a license to drill an oil well off the coast of the northern state of Amapá, in an area known as the Equatorial Margin.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Petrobras said it would file an appeal this week. The company argued that it had gone beyond the requirements set forth in the bidding process for the block FZA-M-059 and that it also met all the technical requirements demanded by Ibama.
Ibama president Rodrigo Agostinho rejected the license last week on the grounds of “technical inconsistencies” regarding the safety of the drilling operations. A technical report drawn up by Ibama also noted that Petrobras had failed to present an environmental assessment of the sedimentary area.
A group of 80 civil society organizations that expressed opposition to the project back in April highlighted that the oil drilling plans not only threaten the ecosystems of the Equatorial Margin — an ecologically sensitive area that spans the mouth of the Amazon River — but are also “incoherent with the socio-environmental commitments made by the Brazilian government to the Brazilian population and international community.”
The issue is causing a rift within the government, as Environment Minister Marina Silva is staunchly against the exploration of this new oil frontier.
Ms. Silva, Mr. Agostinho, Petrobras president Jean-Paul Prates and the Mines and Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira discussed the issue on Tuesday in a meeting mediated by Chief of Staff Rui Costa. Ms. Silva came out of the meeting saying Ibama’s decision would be respected.
“It’s a technical decision, and a technical decision, in a republican and democratic government, is enforced and respected, based on evidence,” the environment minister said.
But Petrobras subsequently announced that it would be appealing the decision by offering “additional measures,” which would include expanding a fauna stabilization center in Amapá to work with another such base in Belém, Pará state, to assist fauna in both locations “in the remote possibility of an oil spilling accident.”
Search
