NGO informs Ibama of possible oil spill – 02/01/2024 – Environment

The Arayara Institute, an NGO (non-governmental organization) that works against fossil fuels, informed Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) about a “possible” oil spill 438 km off the coast of Amapá. According to the NGO, it is possible that the leak originated from a vessel.

The letter was sent to Ibama last Tuesday (30). ICMBio (Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation) and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change were also notified.

There is no confirmation as to whether or not an oil leak exists, which would only be possible through an on-site check, according to the institute. This verification would also encounter difficulties, as the satellite image used for the suspected leak is from September 2023.

Furthermore, according to Arayara, the point of the alleged leak is outside the EEZ (exclusive economic zone), the strip that goes beyond the territorial sea and over which Brazil exercises sovereignty. There are doubts about who should act, in the event of an oil spill at this point, which is claimed by the country to extend the ZEE, according to the NGO.

A Sheet sought out Ibama to comment on the statement about the possibility of a leak, but there was no response until the report was published.

The detected spot would be 170 km long^two, as stated in Arayara’s letter. “So a relevant incident,” he said.

The institute used images from the Sentinel-1 satellite, processed by a monitoring system from the Skytruth organization. The chance that it is an oil slick is 70%, depending on the system used.

“We highlight the need for attention to the movement of oil vessels in the region and the detection of leak spots in neighboring countries”, cites the letter. “This finding reinforces the urgency of more comprehensive monitoring and inspection, in order to prevent recurrences of this kind in the future.”

Closer to the coast of Amapá, at a distance of 160 to 179 km, is the so-called block 59, which Petrobras and the Lula (PT) government want to prospect for oil in 2024. Ibama denied the venture a license in May 2023, and the state-owned company appeals.

In 2019, oil slicks flooded beaches in the nine states of the Northeast, Espírito Santo and Rio de Janeiro, in the biggest environmental disaster to hit the Brazilian coast. Since the first detection of slicks, in August 2019, 5,300 tons of oil have been collected in 1,013 locations.

The spill reached 2,000 km of the Brazilian coast, and impacted the lives of fishermen and communities and those who depend on tourism. Fourteen conservation units were affected.

Federal Police investigations pointed to the Greek-flagged oil tanker NM Bouboulina as responsible for the oil release.