Petrobras carries out scientific expedition on the equatorial margin – 04/01/2024 – Environment

Amid a clash over oil exploration on the so-called Brazilian equatorial margin, Petrobras announced this Monday (1st) a scientific expedition to research the region, which runs from the coast of Rio Grande do Norte to Amapá, on the border with French Guiana.

The main objective, says the state-owned company, is to deepen studies on the region’s marine geology, “the new and most promising exploratory frontier in deep waters”, to subsidize future environmental programs in the area.

Oil exploration on the equatorial margin faces resistance from the government’s environmental department, which has already denied licenses for drilling wells in Amapá and Maranhão. The oil sector argues that the activity is essential to maintain Brazilian oil production after the depletion of the pre-salt.

Block 59 of the Foz do Amazonas basin is Petrobras’ main target on the equatorial margin.

This is the state-owned company’s second expedition on the equatorial margin. The work involves 28 scientists from 12 universities and research institutions, 10 of them in the northeast region. It began on Saturday (30), with the use of the Navy’s research vessel Vital de Oliveira.

“We will intensify studies [sobre a região] and update data”, said, in a note, the president of the state-owned company, Jean Paul Prates. “In the future, we will apply technologies that were used in the Santos basin, such as artificial intelligence, drones and remote sensing to produce knowledge of this environment.”

“Much of the knowledge we have today about the marine ecosystems of the Campos and Santos basins was made possible by Petrobras”, added Petrobras’ director of engineering, technology and innovation, Carlos Travassos. “We want to do the same on the equatorial margin.”

The studies involve collecting materials between 130 and 800 meters deep, around 150 kilometers from the coast, in the maritime portion of Amapá.

According to Petrobras, the Vital de Oliveira ship is capable of mapping data from the atmosphere, ocean, marine soil and subsoil and has already made 85 trips along the Brazilian coast. It has capacity for up to 90 military personnel and 40 researchers.

At the beginning of this year, Petrobras drilled its first exploratory well on the equatorial margin after refusing the license to operate in Amapá. The well was drilled on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte, an area where oil activity is most consolidated.

In January, the company reported that it found signs of oil in this well, but that it was not yet possible to confirm the viability of production. A new well would be drilled in the area to further studies.

This Monday, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, once again defended oil exploration in the region.

“Brazil needs to know its potential and, if the oil and natural gas reserves in Amapá are confirmed, define the use of these resources to protect the Amazon forest and finance the energy transition. Without knowing what we have, we can’t do anything” , he stated.