Foz do Amazonas: Petrobras wants approval without regional study – 03/30/2023 – Environment

Petrobras is trying to obtain a license from Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) to start drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River in search of oil even in the absence of a study recommended by the agency.

At the end of January of this year, the institute issued a technical opinion in which it concluded that “complementary information and additional measures are necessary for the continuation of the environmental licensing process”.

The conclusion brings a series of considerations, among them the absence of a strategic environmental assessment, that is, that makes an analysis of the environmental impacts of the activity for the potentially affected region.

In a demonstration on the 21st, attached to the licensing process, Petrobras argues that the drilling phase is only preliminary, of short duration and to verify the existence of an underground reserve.

The company defends in the document that, as the environmental impacts would only happen in the following phases of the operation —such as the installation of bases and the extraction of oil itself—, they should not be considered at this time of licensing.

“The most comprehensive socio-environmental transformations may become a reality in the production and disposal phase”, says the company.

Ibama’s manifestation draws attention especially to the absence of an environmental assessment of the sedimentary area, called AAAS, which is a study carried out through the soil that analyzes whether the region, and not just the specific block of drilling, is suitable or not to be explored —considering the characteristics of the environment.

The AAAS —as well as the EAAS, an environmental study of the sedimentary area, a complementary instrument— is a joint responsibility of the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of the Environment, and is not a mandatory part of the environmental licensing.

However, in the view of environmentalists and members of Ibama who were privately consulted, the ideal was for strategic studies to be carried out even before the auctions. In this way, whoever acquires a block is already aware of the possible environmental limitations for its exploitation.

In the January technical opinion, the institute complains that, even though the auction for block 59 took place ten years ago, in 2013, “it is not understood why an AAAS was not carried out” in the Foz do Amazonas basin “despite the complex issues previously identified socio-environmental issues” and the “various opinions issued in this and other environmental licensing processes involving the region”.

In its position, Petrobras reiterates that there is no legal obligation to carry out an AAAS, but that other impact studies have been carried out for the region that can be used.

The state-owned company argues that it has “experience in the use of instruments applicable to projects of greater complexity or with a greater degree of uncertainty”.

He also says that the discoveries made during the drilling stage can help in “complementing information gaps”.

“In a sensitive region like the mouth of the Amazon —and more broadly, the entire equatorial margin of the country— it is essential to carry out an environmental assessment of the sedimentary area. It is logical to say that the AAAS, which defines areas suitable or not for exploration , can be discarded”, says Suely Araújo, former president of Ibama and director of the Climate Observatory.

In the technical opinion, the institute says that the studies carried out prior to the licensing “are a priority and essential for understanding the adequacy” of the enterprise to the region. Ibama recognizes that there is no legal provision for requiring the AAAS, however, it warns the oil company that the drilling authorization does not guarantee the viability of the following stages.

“The absence of a strategic environmental assessment, such as the AAAS, and other environmental management instruments, significantly hinder decision-making regarding the environmental viability of the activity, inserted in an area of ​​notorious socio-environmental sensitivity and a new frontier for the oil industry “, concludes the institute.

Contacted by the report, Ibama stated that Petrobras presented an Environmental Impact Study/Report (EIA/Rima) as a basis for the viability of the undertaking, but that “the AAAS has a totally different purpose, it is a strategic planning instrument for the government to the entire region where the development is located” and that this “would provide more security to the licensing decision”.

A Sheet, Petrobras reaffirmed that it has already submitted socio-environmental studies for the undertaking and that the AAAS depends on the ministries. He also states that, for the exploration of the Santos Basin, the pre-salt layer, more in-depth studies were presented only after the drilling phase.

“Despite not being the responsibility of the companies, Petrobras makes itself available to government bodies to collaborate in a possible AAAS or other study of a regional nature that can support the decision on the future development of production in the region, in case there is a discovery arising of the well to be drilled in deep waters”, said the company in a note.

Environmental licensing for block 59 at the mouth of the Amazon is at an advanced stage, and Ibama has yet to analyze the emergency plan and a disaster response simulation. The process advanced, above all, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), which weakened and set up inspection and licensing instances.

There is concern that the eventual release will trigger a cascading effect for other blocks not yet explored in the region, which is considered environmentally delicate.

Block 59 is located approximately 160 km from the coast of Oiapoque (AP) and 500 km from the exact location of the mouth of the Amazon River. The area is also home to the largest mangroves in Brazil, on the coast of Amapá, and immense systems of coral reefs, which were recently discovered and about which little is known.

The exploration of the mouth of the Amazon is considered by environmentalists as one of the undertakings with the greatest potential impact in the country today, along with the paving of BR-319 —the highway that crosses the Amazon— and Ferrogrão (a railroad project that aims to transport the production of grains in the Midwest by ports in the North region).

Last Friday (24), contrary to the environmentalist discourse and change in the national energy matrix, the Ministry of Mines and Energy announced plans to scale up national production and make Brazil the fourth largest oil producer in the world —today it is the eighth, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

_{The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.}