Petrobras Requests Reversal of Decision to Block Exploratory Well
Petróleo Brasleiro said yesterday that it has asked Brazil’s environmental agency to reverse a decision it made to block the state-controlled oil company from drilling an exploratory well off the country’s northern coast.
Petrobras, as the company is known, said last week that the Brazilian Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources, or Ibama, declined to approve the oil company’s application to drill wells off the coast of Brazil’s state of Amapa. The area where the wells are located is more than 300 miles from the mouth of the Amazon river, Petrobras said.
Drilling the well would be a “temporary, low-risk” activity that would take about five months, and would determine the production potential of the area, Petrobras said.
To begin commercial production in the area, Petrobras would need to request a new licensing process that would include more detailed environmental studies, the company said.
Petrobras said it has met all of Ibama’s technical requirements and that the oil company’s proposed emergency response plan is the largest in the country.
