Petrobras only paid 5% of environmental infractions in 10 years – 03/16/2024 – Environment

Petrobras committed environmental infractions that resulted in the application of more than 3,000 fines by Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) in the last ten years. The fines total R$985.6 million.

The progress of these infraction notices shows that there were write-offs — which includes the settlement of part of the debts — in the amount of R$49.9 million, just 5% of the total. The remainder, R$935.6 million, remains outstanding in the federal agency’s system.

Petrobras, in a note, says that it “reserves the right” to challenge the fines “administratively in cases where there are controversial points”.

The information was obtained by Sheet through the LAI (Access to Information Law), with Ibama.

Data on fines are made available by the agency in open consultations, in its transparency system. As there are divergences in criteria and flaws in the availability of information, however, the report adopted the LAI route to obtain the spreadsheets.

To define the final values ​​year by year, the report excluded infraction notices that were repeated. The status of the reported debt corresponds to that at the time the fines were consulted, in February 2024, according to Ibama.

Most of the fines, including the highest value ones, concern oil exploration processes by the state-owned company, such as improper dumping of oil at sea, continuous disposal of water resulting from the procedures adopted and non-compliance with conditions established in the licenses issued by Ibama.

Strategies for contesting fines cause processes to drag on for years, including statutes of limitations. In ten years, Petrobras continues without paying almost R$1 billion in fines, according to spreadsheets provided by Ibama.

The value is added to a similar amount, of R$980 million, owed by the state-owned company due to projects with great environmental impact, such as Sheet showed in a report published on the 3rd. These are environmental compensations provided for by law that are now subject to monetary correction due to the delay in signing the terms for settlement.

The money should be used in conservation units. Added to the compensation and fines owed, there is almost R$2 billion.

In a note, the state-owned company says that it carries out technical and legal assessments of assessments, within what the law allows. “Such questions are often accepted by the competent bodies, which results in the cancellation or reduction of the value of the fines.”

Payments, in these cases, only occur after all procedural steps have been completed, and the steps and deadlines are not the responsibility of the company, the note mentions.

“The company communicates to the competent authorities any and all anomalies in its production process and constantly seeks to implement improvements in its operations”, he states.

Regarding environmental compensations, Petrobras says that there are no pending issues, that it complies with the legislation and its obligations and that it signs the terms of commitment as soon as the documents are made available.

The state-owned company is preparing to expand oil production, including on the Amazon coast.

Petrobras is pressuring Ibama to grant the license, still in 2024, necessary for oil research in the so-called block 59, which is located 160 km to 179 km from the coast, in the direction of Oiapoque (AP). This license has already been denied once, in 2023.

The state-owned company has already tried to explore for oil in the same Foz do Amazonas basin, in a well close to block 59, but abandoned the project for good, in 2016, after an accident during drilling activity in the block, FZA-4.

The new frontier sought by Petrobras has the support of President Lula (PT), who has already given his approval for oil exploration on the Amazon coast. The projects extend across the Brazilian equatorial margin, beyond the Amazon limits.

The two largest outstanding fines, according to data provided by Ibama through LAI, have an individual value of R$35,055,000.00. They were applied in December 2019.

A Sheet obtained the inspection report relating to one of them. The agency analyzed whether the P-50 platform, in the Campos basin, complied with the environmental procedures required in the licensing.

According to the technicians, there was a “continuous action with the disposal of effluents in natura, not carrying out the treatment of greywater and contradicting the relevant legal standards and regulations”. Petrobras “does not comply with recurring audit findings” and “does not comply with its own action plan”.

“Given the size of the company and its technical capacity, it is unjustifiable for a simple treatment plant to be out of operation for the period in question”, cites the report, which considered there to be intentionality in the infraction and significant consequences for the environment and public health .

The other three largest fines listed in the spreadsheets provided by Ibama also concern oil exploration in the Campos basin.

On platform P-53, there was a discharge of 122 m³ of oil, contrary to the provisions of the law and licensing, according to the federal agency. The fine imposed was R$35,051,000.00. At Cherne-2, the problem was the disposal of water resulting from the production process. The fine imposed was R$30 million.

There was also “emission of effluent (production water with a high content of crude oil) and the perishing of biodiversity specimens”, also at a point in the Campos basin, according to a fifth assessment – ​​worth R$ 25,110,000.00.

Former president of Ibama, Suely Araújo states that Petrobras adopts a business stance of using “all administrative and judicial resources” to delay and not pay the fines.

“There is a prioritization of trying not to pay,” says Araújo, who presided over the federal agency between 2016 and 2018. Today she is the coordinator of public policies at the Observatório do Clima organization.

In 2018, the total number of fines applied by Ibama to Petrobras exceeded R$1 billion, according to the former president of the body. “There may have been settlements in some cases.”

A significant part of the fines concerns the water resulting from the production process, which must return clean to the sea. “It’s common for oil companies to have this problem, especially in older fields,” says Araújo.

Petrobras has a history of delaying the payment of environmental fines and the rate of values ​​that fell, 5%, is within Ibama’s reality, according to the former president of the organization. “The reality of low payments exists, in fact, in every authority that imposes fines, such as the INSS.”

Payments are more frequent when the values ​​are lower, according to Araújo, who defends an expansion of the conversion of fines into environmental services. “This could be the only source of resources for the recovery of degraded areas, for example.”