Offshore staff
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil – Petrobras has responded to requests in a letter from Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy to last week’s veto by the environmental agency IBAMA of an exploration drilling program offshore the Amazon area.
IBAMA rejected the environmental licensing application for Block FZA-M-59 in the Amapá Águas Profundas region.
Petrobras said its understanding was that it had complied with all requirements of the licensing process, adding that all the resources mobilized in Amapá and Pará for the pre-operational assessment (simulated to test the emergency response plans) were in accordance with the decisions and approvals of that body.
The company said it would exercise its right to file a request for reconsideration with the presidency of IBAMA, so it can demonstrate compliance with all the requirements repeatedly presented by the federal licensing body during the licensing process. It intends to do so prior to the legal deadline of May 24.
As for maintaining the rig and resources for an additional period at its current location, the company's technical evaluation has concluded that it is possible to do so until May 29, without incurring additional costs to those already experienced related to IBAMA’s response to the environmental licensing process.
Without a conclusive opinion from IBAMA allowing the pre-operational assessment within the environmental licensing process, Petrobras added, it would incur unjustified additional costs. These would mean having to relocate the rig and other resources mobilized in the region of Block FZA-M-59 to activities in Brazil’s offshore southeastern basins.
05.22.2023
