RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil,
Petrobras announced Monday that it has won a license to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, infuriating environmentalists who feared the move might jeopardize Brazil's hosting of UN climate talks next month.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva supports plans to boost oil exploration in Brazil, which is now the world's eighth-largest producer. He states that oil income would help fund Brazil's climate transition.
Critics criticize him for taking a conflicting attitude as he calls on world leaders to increase their efforts to combat climate change ahead of the COP30 talks in the Amazon city of Belem, which will take place from November 10 to 21.
Petrobras was granted a drilling license in the Foz de Amazonas region following a five-year struggle for exploration rights.
Brazil's environmental agency, Ibama, said it gave the go-ahead after "a rigorous environmental licensing process."
However, Brazil's Climate Observatory NGO stated that civil society organisations would challenge the judgment in court.
"The government is sabotaging the leadership it should have at COP30," Suely Araujo, a former president of Ibama and coordinator of the Climate Observatory non-governmental organisation, told AFP.
"How can our diplomats advocate for the shift toward fossil fuels...when the country increases fossil fuel exploration and production?"
- ‘Head held high’—
Araujo, who refused French oil giant Total a drilling license in nearby blocks in 2018, stated that awarding the permission had paved the way for further permits in the same region.
Foz de Amazonas is part of a prospective new offshore oil frontier, with nearby Guyana emerging as a major producer in barely a decade after big offshore finds.
"The region represents the future of our oil sovereignty. Brazil cannot afford to overlook its potential," Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira stated in a statement.
"As long as the world needs oil, someone will provide it... "Brazil is going to COP with its head held high," Silveira told Globo News.
Petrobras stated that it would immediately begin drilling an exploratory well in Block 59, an offshore site 500 kilometers (310 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River.
Environmentalists voiced concern about drilling for oil off the coast of the world's largest tropical rainforest, which has strong ocean currents and is prone to severe storms.
According to the World Wildlife Fund in Brazil, the area holds 80% of the country's mangrove forests.
In its final technical report, Ibama emphasized the possible hazards to already falling manatee populations posed by the movement of vessels and equipment in the region and urged Petrobras to help conserve them.
Petrobras has stated that its simulations indicate that an oil spill at the offshore site "would not be likely to reach the coast" and would have "no visible impact" on Indigenous communities.
"We hope to obtain great outcomes from this study and prove the existence of oil in the Brazilian portion of this fresh global energy frontier," said Magda Chambriard, Petrobras' president, in a statement.
Brazil satisfies the majority of its energy demands with renewables and exports more than half of its oil, so emissions from increased oil production will not add to its own greenhouse gas count but will still be emitted globally.
“Authorising new oil licenses in the Amazon is not just a historic mistake—it’s doubling down on a model that has already failed,” said Ilan Zugman of the advocacy group 350.org.
- ‘Massive biodiversity loss’—
Ibama denied Petrobras an exploration license in 2023, citing poor animal protection plans in the event of an oil spill.
As Petrobras appealed, Lula applied pressure, claiming earlier this year that Ibama was a government body acting "against the government."
In February, an Ibama analytical opinion obtained by AFP stated that the recommendation remained to "deny the environmental license," noting the possibility of "massive biodiversity loss in a highly sensitive marine ecosystem."
In May, Ibama president Rodrigo Agostinho authorised Petrobras to conduct an oil-spill drill, the final stage before licensing.
The test revealed flaws in wildlife protection, but Ibama announced Monday that another exercise would take place "during the drilling activity."
-BSS
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