Government wants speedy licensing for oil drilling at the mouth of the Amazon

The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, defended this Tuesday (12) that the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) accelerate the granting of environmental licensing for Petrobras to drill oil wells at the mouth of the Amazon river. The Equatorial Margin region, in the state of Amapá, is considered to have great oil potential.

“Ibama must speed up this process so that we cannot continue wasting time in diagnosing the real production capacity in the Equatorial Margin of oil and gas and, consequently, its derivatives”, said Silveira after participating in an event on wind energy in the capital of São Paulo, informed the Brazil Agency. The minister asked for “greater sensitivity from Ibama management on this issue of the equatorial margin”.

In May, Ibama denied Petrobras’ request to carry out offshore drilling activities in the Foz do Amazonas basin, the so-called block FZA-M-59. According to the agency, the decision was taken “due to a set of technical inconsistencies” for safe operation in a new exploratory area.

This Tuesday, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, defended Ibama’s decision regarding oil exploration in the mouth of the Amazon region. According to the minister, the oil company’s request was not accepted for technical reasons. “The license was not granted due to insufficiencies in the environmental impact study and the solutions presented”, stated Marina during a public hearing at the Senate Infrastructure Committee to debate the topic.