AGU opinion gives green light to oil exploration in Foz do Amazonas – News of Brazil
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In a win for Petrobras, the Attorney General of the Union (AGU) finalized an opinion to give to the president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a new argument to release oil exploration on the high seas in the Foz Basin region of the Amazon River, which was denied by the Brazilian Institute of the Environment (IBAMA) last May, triggering a crisis in the government.
The conclusion of the opinion, eagerly awaited at Petrobras, at the Ministry of Mines and Energy and at the Planalto Palace, was anticipated by the column’s team.
For the AGU, the Environmental Assessment of the Sedimentary Area (AAAS) is not indispensable, nor can it prevent the carrying out of environmental licensing for oil and natural gas exploration and production projects in the country.
Ibama has already denied the drilling license for the FMZ-59 block to Petrobras twice, but Lula and the Ministry of Mines and Energy have been pressing for it to be granted. One of the reasons considered by Ibama is the lack of an AAAS, which analyzes whether the region, and not just the block to be drilled, is suitable for exploration. This type of assessment takes one to two years to complete.
The AGU opinion resorted to a 2012 interministerial decree to say that this assessment is not mandatory. “The AAAS is, above all, an aid instrument, to support environmental licensing, and not an end in itself”says the document.
The entire area in question is located on the Brazilian equatorial margin – which runs from the coast of Amapá to the coast of Rio Grande do Norte. The well Petrobras wants to drill is located offshore, 175 km off the coast of Amapá and 500 km from the mouth of the Amazon River.
On May 17, Ibama denied the well drilling license for the second time, triggering an internal battle in the government and with politicians from the allied base.
In May, shortly after the drilling license was denied by Ibama, the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, told company advisers that the authorization would come out in about six months.
Earlier this month, Lula himself said in an interview with radio stations in the Amazon region, in response to the journalist Luiz Melo (Diário FM Macapá 90.9)that Ibama’s position is not definitive and that Amapá can “keep dreaming” of oil exploration on its coast.
“You can keep dreaming. And I also want to keep dreaming. This Ibama study is not definitive. They point out technical flaws that Petrobras has the right to correct”said the president in response to the journalist Luiz Melo.
AGU’s manifestation does not resolve the controversy by itself. Even so, the government hopes that the opinion will serve as “argumentative reinforcement” for Lula to arbitrate the conflict and make a decision on the case, in favor of Petrobras and against the interests of the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva.
The AGU was called to give an opinion on the controversy because, among the powers of the body “establish the interpretation of the Constitution, laws, treaties and other normative acts, to be uniformly followed by the bodies and entities of the Federal Administration”.
Foz do Amazonas is part of the Equatorial Margin, an area considered a new exploratory frontier that runs from the coast of Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte. Petrobras intends to invest around US$ 2 billion for exploratory activities in this region, considering the business plan until 2026.
During the turmoil on the Esplanada, Marina Silva and the president of Ibama, Rodrigo Agostinho, emphatically defended the institute’s technical opinion against oil exploration in the region.
The main defender at the time was the head of Mines and Energy, Alexandre de Silveira, who harshly criticized Ibama’s work and even classified the document as “absurd”. The leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolph Rodrigues (AP), also publicly disagreed with the position of Marina, his then co-religionist, and left the Sustainability Network.
At Petrobras, the main stakeholder in the project, Ibama’s position was never seen as a definitive veto. As we published on the blog in May, the president of the state-owned company, Jean Paul Prates, told the oil company’s advisers that exploration at Foz do Amazonas would be released “in six months”.
Information from O Globo
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