Environmental licensing process for drilling projects for seven wells in the Foz do Amazonas Basin is resumed by the oil and gas multinational Total, after conflicts with Ibama

The oil exploration and production projects in the Foz do Amazonas Basin are peculiar and have shown a great demand for data and information on the part of the Ibama (Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources). After the decision to reject Total's drilling license, still in 2018, the oil company was forced to restart the environmental licensing process for drilling wells in the Amazon.

Read also

• Studies have shown that renewable sources, such as solar and wind energy, are cheaper than previously thought.
• This Thursday, Petrobras receives proposals for the management of the Búzios 5 Project
• Shell to enter Brazil's offshore wind market: "a matter of time"

At the time, Ibama reported that Total was unable to prove that offshore drilling would be technically and operationally safe, claiming “profound uncertainties” related to the Individual Emergency Plan (PEI).

Now, Total has started a new environmental licensing process for the drilling of seven exploratory wells in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, in the following blocks: FZA-M-57, FZA-M-86, FZAM-88, FZA-M-125 and FZA-M-127.

In the 11th round of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP), held in 2013, the oil and gas companies that purchased blocks planned, in all, the drilling of 12 wells in the Foz do Amazonas Basin and only Total estimated drilling nine wells region, where it operates five blocks. BP and Enauta also license drilling projects in the area.

Pressure on oil exploration and production projects in the Foz do Amazonas Basin

In addition to studies to minimize environmental risks by Ibama, exploration projects at Foz do Amazonas face strong resistance from environmentalists. Licensing is monitored by environmental preservation organizations such as Greenpeace.

Faced with pending issues and situations involving environmental licensing issues for drilling oil wells in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE) withdrew from the 15th round of bidding, which was held in 2018, the exploratory blocks that would be offered in the region.