The Brazilian protection agency environment Ibama plans to decide early next year whether the state oil company Petrobras can drill near the mouth of the Amazon River, the president of the organization, Rodrigo Agostinho, said on Wednesday.
The area is part of Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, which Petrobras considers its most promising new frontier for oil and gas exploration. The decision to drill in the region was controversial, due to its biodiversity and proximity to the Amazon rainforest.
Earlier this year, Petrobras appealed a decision by Ibama that denied a license to drill an exploratory well in the region, near the coast of Amapa state.
The agency does not have a deadline to judge the appeal, but Agostinho stated that it is treating the matter as a priority.
The Equatorial Margin is a stretch of about 2,200 km of deep and ultra-deep water assets along the northern and northeastern coast of Brazil.
The area that Petrobras intends to drill is located south of where Suriname is exploring for oil, and near Guyana, where Exxon Mobil has discovered significant oil reserves.
Source: Gestion
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