A proposed oil exploration project of Brazil’s state-owned oil company Petrobras to drill a well off the coast of the northern state of Amapá has been blocked by Brazil’s federal environmental enforcement agency (Ibama) – a decision which Petrobras appealed on 25 May. The proposed oil exploration licence is exposing internal tensions within the federal government led by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with some pushing to protect sensitive marine ecosystems, while others back oil extraction to drive economic development.
According to figures from local consultancy group Centro Brasileiro de Infraestrutura (CBIE), cited in national media such as CNN Brasil on 30 May, the oil deposits in the waters near the northern coast of Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname could provide up to 1.1m barrels per day (bpd) at the peak of oil production. According to CNN Brasil this is about the same amount of oil as Brazil’s largest known offshore oil deposits off the south-eastern coast, such as the Tupi and Búzios oil fields, where Petrobras already has oil rigs set up.
However, on 17 May Ibama announced its decision to block Petrobras’ proposal for oil exploration in the FZA-M-59 block, near the Amazon delta, on a technicality. Ibama’s president Rodrigo Agostinho explained that Petrobras needed to have completed an in-depth environmental evaluation of the sediment area (AAAS) as part of the application for the licence to extract in that block of water. Petrobras has insisted that it has submitted all required documents and, as part of its appeal for Ibama to reconsider its decision, has said that it would include new measures to mitigate environmental risks, including an expansion of its emergency services to respond to potential oil spills or accidents.
The decision to block the project was discussed in a meeting on 23 May, attended by Lula’s chief of staff, Rui Costa, Petrobras executives, and Environment Minister Marina Silva, whose ministry oversees Ibama. Silva emerged victorious from the meeting, after the federal government upheld her demands that Petrobras comply with procedures and environmental reporting requirements.
This setback for Petrobras nonetheless came at a political cost to the ruling Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT)-led coalition. Senator Randolfe Rodrigues, who was affiliated with Silva’s party, the environmentalist Rede Sustentabilidade (Rede) party, a member the ruling coalition, announced on 18 May that he was leaving Rede over the decision.
A senator for Amapá, Rodrigues had joined Rede in 2015, having previously moved between other left-wing parties such as the Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL) and PT. Despite his more recent affiliation with the environmentalist party, he had backed the proposed oil extraction project as a potential source of wealth for his state. In an opinion piece published on 26 May in national daily Folha de São Paulo, the now-independent senator pointed out that the extra environmental assessments required by Ibama could take around three years to complete.
- Rodrigues defends oil extraction
In his Folha de São Paulo opinion piece Senator Rodrigues tried to downplay the risk of environmental damage of Petrobras’ oil project for coastal communities, emphasising the distance between the oil deposit from the Amapá shoreline (175km away from land and 2,800m deep). However, Ibama has also pointed out that the FZA-M-59 block is located near vulnerable ecosystems on the seabed, including biodiverse reefs with corals, sea sponges, and other species which would be threatened by Petrobras’ oil exploration.
Rodrigues’ decision to leave Rede is a setback for the ruling coalition given he was its leader in congress. It is also a blow to Rede given Silva’s party was always a junior partner in the ruling coalition and is left with only one deputy in the lower house, having lost its only representative in the senate.
