03/10/2023 – 6:43
After Petrobras received, on Friday, the 29th, the first environmental license from the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) to search for oil in two blocks on the so-called Equatorial Margin that are located in the Potiguar Basin – on the coast of Rio Grande do Norte and Ceará -, the president of the state-owned company, Jean Paul Prates, said this Monday, 2, that the authorization for drilling included the “best known” points in the area. But he reaffirmed that the company’s priority continues to be the Foz do Amazonas basin.
“It appears that Ibama and MMA (Ministry of the Environment) chose to begin licensing the possibility of offshore drilling in deep waters of the Equatorial Margin in the region where there are more studies, activities and operational experience: the Potiguar basin has seven wells producing oil and gas, 437 offshore wells already drilled by Petrobras historically, in addition to more than 8,680 wells on land”, said Prates, yesterday, on X (formerly Twitter).
Reconsideration
The license for exploration – drilling a block to search for oil – is the first for the region obtained by the current management of Petrobras, although the state-owned company’s “priority” has always been Foz do Amazonas (FZA), followed by Potiguar and Barreirinhas , “in this order”, emphasized Prates.
In May, the environmental agency denied a license for the exploration of Foz do Amazonas. The state-owned company appealed. The initial license requests for the area were presented to Ibama in April last year, recalled the executive. Ibama is now continuing to analyze the reconsideration request for the Foz do Amazonas license case.
“Petrobras has already complied with all the new demands and requirements placed by Ibama in its most recent opinion on the case”, stated Prates in yesterday’s post.
For the Potiguar Basin, authorization from Ibama occurred after a recent and successful Pre-Operational Assessment (APO) in the area. According to Prates, Petrobras’ campaign for the Brazilian Equatorial Margin consists of a total of 16 exploratory wells (search for new reserves) to be drilled between 2023-2027, an investment estimated at R$15 billion.
Replacement
The sedimentary basins where Petrobras has exploratory blocks to drill are: FZA (Foz do Amazonas), PAMA (Pará-Maranhão), BAR (Barreirinhas) and POT (Potiguar).
Exploration in the north of the country aims to replace reserves, necessary for the country to maintain production for internal supply and export. “Petrobras is aware of its role in supplying oil to Brazil, in order to guarantee energy security through the conscious use of the still necessary oil and gas resources,” he said.
The information is from the newspaper The State of S. Paulo.
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