Petrobras deploys environmental unit to get Foz do Amazonas drilling license

Brazil’s federal oil firm Petrobras has deployed a stabilization and depetrolization unit in Oiapoque, Amapá state, as part of efforts to obtain a drilling license in the geologically promising Foz do Amazonas basin in the Equatorial Margin. 

The unit will help protect wildlife, Petrobras wrote in a letter to environmental regulator Ibama, which BNamericas obtained through a freedom of information request.  

In the letter, Petrobras reaffirmed a commitment to adhere to all of Ibama's requests associated with the drilling license for exploration block FZA-M-59. 

“We’re waiting for a favorable analysis regarding the reconsideration of the previous rejection and the continuity of the environmental licensing process, so that we can start preparing the rig to carry out the pre-operational assessment,” Petrobras said. 

Foz do Amazonas is the star of the Equatorial Margin, which is seen as Brazil’s main hope to avoid oil supply risk in the next decade. 

After failed attempts by TotalEnergies and BP, Petrobras has also been trying for years to obtain a license to drill in the area, but without success. 

Federal energy research company EPE estimates that the basin could have recoverable volumes of as much as 10 billion barrels of oil equivalent.