Petrobras Fails to Get Approval from the State of Pará and Delays Oil Well Drilling Project in the Mouth of the Amazon Region

The Oil Well Drilling Project in the Amazon River Mouth Basin Is Already Underway, with a Million-Dollar Mobilization Per Day. Petrobras Is Now Halting the Continuation of the Campaign, Since It Still Has Not Obtained the License from the State of Pará.

Amid a major drilling project in the Amazon River Mouth Basin, Petrobras is struggling this Friday (12/16) to move forward. This is because the state-owned company has still not received the approval from the state of Pará, necessary to conduct a leak simulation in the region. Thus, the company’s oil exploration campaign in the area remains halted until the license is granted.

The State of Pará Has Yet to Grant the Necessary License for Simulation, and Petrobras’s Oil Well Drilling Project in the Amazon River Mouth Remains Halted

The last few days have not been optimistic for Petrobras regarding the future of one of its oil exploration projects in Brazil, located in the Amazon River Mouth Basin.

This is because, although it has carried out a major mobilization for drilling the well in the area, the state of Pará has still not issued the necessary approval for conducting a leak simulation on-site.

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This is a license required for the state-owned company to move forward and obtain the approval from Ibama for drilling in the area.

The state-owned oil company, which has been incurring a daily cost of millions for mobilizing personnel and equipment for the simulation in the Amazon region, has been working for some time to open the basin as a new exploratory frontier for oil.

After BP and TotalEnergies abandoned the assets due to issues obtaining the necessary licenses for the projects, Petrobras has been leading the initiative, but now faces the same problem as the companies.

The state-owned company has not yet begun the simulation, which was scheduled for the second half of December, due to the lack of a license to install a small hospital for oiled birds in Belém, called the Wildlife Rehabilitation and Oil Removal Center (CRD).

This is an essential step for simulating a leak in the oil well drilling at the Amazon River Mouth, but Petrobras fears it may have to postpone it to 2023.

The State-Owned Company Is Spending About R$ 4 Million Daily in the Amazon River Mouth, Yet Has Not Obtained the Necessary License  

While the state of Pará does not grant the license to Petrobras, the company is currently incurring a daily expenditure of around R$ 4 million, including drilling rig, staff, three helicopters, one aircraft, and five tugboats in the Amazon River Mouth.

In addition to the license issued by the state government, the state-owned company will need to wait for a technical team from Ibama itself to verify the safety of the drilling project.

Petrobras is concerned that the environmental agency’s team may enter their year-end recess, even with all resources available and generating costs.

The state-owned company stated that “it has been making the necessary efforts for the licensing of the CRD (Wildlife Rehabilitation and Oil Removal Center) with the Pará State Secretary for the Environment and Sustainability — Semas.”

Moreover, it emphasized that it is shifting its efforts towards conducting the Pre-Operational Assessment (APO) simulation but needs government support to continue the well drilling project.

As of now, Semas has not responded to requests for comments.