Brazil’s Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) has denied oil company Petrobras permission to drill for oil off the coast of Amapá.
Petrobras was only waiting for this authorization to begin test drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin, about 175 kilometers off the coast of Amapá.
Ibama’s technical division had already issued a statement opposing the drilling.
Now the president of the institute, Rodrigo Agostinho, joined this opinion.
The document points out that Petrobras’ plan for the area does not include guarantees for protecting fauna in possible accidents caused by an oil spill.
Another point highlighted is the gaps regarding the projected impact of the activities on three indigenous territories in Oiapoque.
“There is no doubt that Petrobras has been given every opportunity to fix critical points of its project, but there are still troubling inconsistencies for safe operations in a new exploration area with high social and environmental vulnerability,” Agostinho wrote.
The Brazilian Equatorial Margin, an area with an exploration potential of 14 billion barrels of oil, includes the coastal region from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte and the Foz do Amazonas, Pará-Maranhão, Barreirinhas, Ceará and Potiguar basins.
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