Petrobras sends probe to drill equatorial margin – 12/06/2023 – Environment

Petrobras announced this Wednesday (6) that it sent a drill ship to drill in the Potiguar basin, in Rio Grande do Norte. The equipment is expected to drill in the region later this year, in a move that will mark the first exploratory well on the entire Brazilian equatorial margin since 2015.

The ship left Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday (5). The oil company stated that the shipment occurred after the vessel had undergone hull cleaning and refueling in Guanabara Bay.

Pitu Oeste will be the third well in the BM-POT-17 concession, and drilling, 52 km from the coast, is expected to take three to five months.

Petrobras received from Ibama (Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), in October, the operating license to drill exploratory wells, in deep waters, in the Potiguar basin.

Under the same environmental license, Petrobras plans to drill the Anhangá well, in the POT-M-762 concession, 79 km off the coast of Rio Grande do Norte and close to the Pitu Oeste well.

In a note, the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, pointed out that the new Strategic Plan 2024-2028 foresees an investment of US$3.1 billion in exploratory activities on the equatorial margin.

“This effort already gives a measure of the confidence we have in the potential of this strip of the Brazilian coast, which is very promising and fundamental to guaranteeing the country’s energy security”, explained Prates.

The equatorial margin in Brazil, a wide region that runs from Rio Grande do Norte to Amapá, is seen as a new oil and gas exploration frontier, with great economic prospects, but also enormous socio-environmental challenges.

“The Pitu Oeste well means the resumption of our activities on the equatorial margin and an exploratory campaign that we believe in, as it will further expand Petrobras’ activities to the Northeast and North and help finance our energy transition,” he said in a statement the director of Exploration and Production at Petrobras, Joelson Mendes.

The IEA (International Energy Agency) has already indicated, however, that new oil exploration wells should not be opened in the world. If fossil fuel activities are not limited, the planet will not be able to meet the goal of the Paris Agreement, which foresees limiting warming to preferably up to 1.5°C in relation to the pre-industrial period, without exceeding 2°C.

With the exploratory research in Potiguar, the company plans to obtain more geological information about the area to assess the economic viability and extent of the oil discovery made in 2013 in the Pitu well.

The exploratory advance on the equatorial margin divides opinions within the Lula (PT) government, especially with regard to the exploration of the Foz do Amazonas basin, on the coast of Amapá, where Ibama has blocked research until now.

The Lula administration’s expansion plans for oil became the target of criticism, as they contradicted the government’s discourse on environmental issues. At COP28, the UN climate conference, which takes place until the 12th in Dubai, the president confirmed that Brazil will join the OPEC+ group, formed by partner countries of the oil cartel.