Brazil grants license to state oil company to explore in Amazon region

Brazil’s state oil company has been granted a license to conduct exploratory oil drilling offshore the Amazon, despite environmental concerns about the project.

The approval will allow Petrobras to drill in a block located at Amapa, 500 km (311 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River on Brazil’s equatorial edge.

The company said it has demonstrated to the government that it has robust environmental protection structures in place.

But many conservationists have raised concerns about the plans, including concerns that any oil spills would be near, via ocean currents, the Amazon, which is home to about 10 percent of the world’s known species.

Groups such as Greenpeace have also raised concerns that it could undermine Brazil’s climate leadership ahead of hosting the COP30 climate summit in the Amazon city of Belem in November.

The International Energy Agency has also been adamant that no new oil projects should be approved if the goal of net zero global emissions is to be met by 2050.

Petrobras said in a statement that drilling was scheduled to begin “immediately” and that it would last five months. The company seeks to assess whether there is oil and gas in the area at an economically viable scale.

It will not produce oil commercially at this stage.

Brazilian Environment Minister Marina Silva has opposed oil exploration in the Amazon region.

But the South American nation’s president, Lula da Silva, backed it on economic grounds and recently defended his position.

Lula told the BBC in September: “Brazil is a country that has oil. And we probably have oil in the equatorial border and we are doing exploration. We strictly follow the law.”

He said if there is a problem or an oil spill, then “we will be responsible and accountable to take care of the problem if it occurs.”

He added: “I fully support one day a world that will not need more fossil fuels, but that moment has not yet arrived.

“I want to know (about) every country on the planet that is ready for an energy transition and can move away from fossil fuels.”

Other international oil companies, including Exxonmobil and Chevron, have purchased “blocks” in the Amazon region and are awaiting exploration licenses.

Petrobras said it was committed to guaranteeing “the country’s energy security and the resources needed for a just energy transition.”

It added that the company was able to “demonstrate the robustness of the entire environmental protection structure that will be in place during drilling.”