Brazil: Total denied approval to drill in Foz do Amazonas

French oil company Total has been denied an environmental license to drill for oil in the Foz do Amazonas area, offshore Brazil.

Brazilian business news agency O’Globo has reported that the country’s environmental protection agency Ibama had denied the license “citing technical” problems in the plans presented by the company.

O’Globo has further reported that IBAMA said its decision had been made on the grounds of “deep uncertainties” detected in Total’s emergency plans related to a possibility of an oil spill that might affect the coral reefs and biodiversity.

IBAMA’s website was down at the time of the writing of the article.

Offshore Energy Today has reached out to Total, seeking further info on the IBAMA decision and on further steps for Total and the Foz do Amazonas plans.

Worth reminding, this is not the first time Ibama has denied Total’s plans for Foz do Amazonas Basin.

Ibama in August 2017 rejected an environmental impact study presented by Total relates to the drilling of up to nine wells in blocks FZA-M-57, 86, 88, 125, and 127, in the Foz do Amazonas basin near a coral reef discovered in 2016.

Total is the operator of these blocks with BP and Petrobras as partners. Total has 40% interest in each block and BP and Petrobras each hold 30% interest in every block.

The massive reef is about 9,500 square kilometers of formations including giant sponges and calcareous algae, called rhodolith. Scientists believe that the Amazon reef, which spans from Brazil to the border with French Guiana, could be a new marine biome.

At the time of rejection last year, the president of Ibama Suely Araújo cited technical opinions that prevented the issuance of a license for oil exploration activities in the region.

RELATED: No biogenic formation in our block, Total says

“Oil dispersion modeling, for example, can leave no doubt about the potential impacts on the coral bank and marine biodiversity. It also highlights the need for international negotiations related to potential cross-border risks in the licensing of maritime drilling and the interlocution with French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Venezuela, as well as the Caribbean archipelago,” said Araújo in August 2017.

The president last year said that, since Ibama already went through this licensing process three times, the oil company would have only one more attempt to meet the requirements of the environmental study.

“If the requirements are not met, the licensing process will be terminated,” Ibama said last year. It remains to be seen what the consequence of the latest termination will be on Total’s drilling plans.

Before the rejection last year, Total had expected to start the drilling activities in 2017 in a water depth of more than 1,900, and at a distance between 120 and 188 km offshore the municipality of Oiapoque in the State of Amapá.

Also, in May 2018, Total said it no evidence of “biogenic formation” in its Foz do Amazonas Basin blocks, following reports that the Greenpeace has found “rhodolith beds” near the same area where Total plans to drill for oil.

Offshore Energy Today Staff