Indigenous resistance hits Brazil rm’s plans to drill for oil o country’s coast
South American nation’s environmental agency had denied state-run rm Petrobras a licence for exploratory drilling in Foz do Amazonas area last year, citing possible impact on Indigenous groups; but an appeal from the energy rm against the decision has dra
razil’s state-run energy rm Petrobras has hit growing resistance from Indigenous groups and government agencies to its premier exploration project, which would open the most promising part of the country’s northern coast to oil drilling.
Environmental agency Ibama denied Petrobras a licence for exploratory drilling oshore in the Foz do Amazonas area last year, citing possible impacts on Indigenous groups and the sensitive coastal biome. But a Petrobras appeal for Ibama to reverse its decision has drawn powerful political backing.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said in September that Brazil should be able to “research” the region’s potential resources, given the national interest. Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira last week told presspersons that it is “Brazil’s right to know the potential” of the oshore elds.
That has bolstered bullish rhetoric from Petrobras about its chances of getting a licence to drill in
Bthe blocks o the coast of Amapa State.
“Get ready Amapa, because we are arriving,” Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates told local politicians and oil executives at an event last month promoting oshore exploration along the northern coast in an area known as Equatorial Margin. He called it “perhaps the last frontier of the oil era for Brazil.”
He has said he expects to start drilling in the second half of this year or sooner in the most promising part of the Equatorial Margin, named the Foz do Amazonas basin. Foz de
Amazonas shares geology with the coast of nearby Guyana, where another energy rm Exxon is developing huge elds.
Slow progress
Ibama chief Rodrigo Agostinho said in November that a decision would be made in early 2024, although labour disputes at the agency have since slowed the pace of environmental licensing.
But opposition seemed to be mounting to Petrobras’s attempt to reverse the halt on exploratory drilling.
Petrobras has drawn fresh government scrutiny. Indigenous aairs agency Funai asked Ibama regulators in December to run several more studies to assess impacts, according to a December 11 government memo from Funai to Ibama obtained in a freedom of information request. The proposed studies would have to be done before Ibama can decide whether to accept the Petrobras appeal.
In July 2022, the Council of Chieftains of the Indigenous People of Oiapoque (CCPIO), an umbrella group representing more than 60 Indigenous villagproduction es in the area, asked federal prosecutors to get involved, denouncing an alleged violation of their rights.
Brazilian prosecutors have a mandate to protect Indigenous peoples, often taking their side in disputes with rms or federal and state governments. In September 2022 they recommended that Ibama not issue the licence before a formal consultation of the local communities.
Records from the prosecutors’ preliminary investigation show that in December 2023, CCPIO asked them to broker a 13month formal consultation with Petrobras about Indigenous views on the project.
The consultation process, along with studies proposed by Funai, would push a decision into 2025 when Brazil will host the COP-30 climate change summit in the Amazon city of Belem, which could make it more politically dif
cult to approve drilling, a person close to CCPIO said.
Minutes from a June 2023 meeting between Petrobras, CCPIO leaders and prosecutors show the company oered to consult local communities about eventual commercial oil in the area, if Ibama requests it, but did not commit to a consultation before drilling exploratory wells.
Asked about Indigenous leaders’ calls for immediate consultations, Petrobras said in a statement that the time for such requests has passed.
“The de nition of whether or not it is necessary to consult indigenous peoples and/or traditional communities takes place at the initial stage of the environmental licensing process,” Petrobras said.
Ibama has not yet replied to the recommendation by Funai late last year for more assessments of the eects of Petrobras’ exploration plans, according to an April 3 document.
Both agencies did not reply to requests for comment . CCPIO and prosecutors said a consultation must be made before Ibama issues a licence to drill.
The drilling stando has created a fault line in Mr. Lula’s government, which is balancing his vows to protect the Amazon and its Indigenous people with the interests of Petrobras and political allies that stand to reap the bene ts of a new oil-producing region.