Brazil’s environmental agency has granted state oil company Petrobras permission to drill for oil off the mouth of the Amazon River, a move that environmentalists warned Monday undercuts the country’s bid to present itself as a climate leader just weeks before it hosts the U.N. climate summit, or COP30.
The Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renovaveis (Ibama) approved an exploratory well in the Foz do Amazonas basin after a licensing process that stretched nearly five years and was marked by repeated disputes between the regulator and the company.
Petrobras said the site lies roughly 500 kilometers (about 310 miles) from the Amazon’s mouth and that drilling will begin immediately, with work expected to last about four to five months. The company said the target lies more than 2,800 meters (about 9,200 feet) below the sea surface.
Energy Minister Alexandre Silveira welcomed the approval as vital to “the future of Brazil’s energy sovereignty,” and Petrobras President Magda Chambriard said the company “met all the requirements established by Ibama” and hoped the research would confirm the basin’s potential. The government has touted the area’s possible riches, as authorities say the region could hold some 10 billion recoverable barrels and attract as much as 300 billion reais (about US$55 billion) in investment.
Brazil approves oil drilling in the Amazon ahead of COP30
The decision set off immediate criticism from environmental groups, scientists, and Indigenous advocates who said the timing, less than a month before COP30 convenes in Belem, in Brazil’s Amazon region, exposes a contradiction in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s effort to cast Brazil as a leader on forest protection and climate action.
“The approval sabotages COP30,” said the Climate Observatory, a network of more than 130 organizations, which said it plans to take legal action alleging “illegalities and technical flaws” in the licensing process. WWF-Brasil warned that the coastal zone near the prospective wells contains about 80% of the country’s mangroves and argued that strong currents at the river mouth would make containing a spill “extremely” difficult. Paulo Artaxo, an IPCC scientist cited by environmentalists, said opening new oil frontiers would aggravate global warming and urged investment instead in solar and wind energy.
Ibama defended its handling of the license in a statement, saying the process had followed rigorous standards and that Petrobras substantially improved its initial plans, particularly for emergency response in the event of a spill. Still, internal documents and reporting show the agency’s technical staff recommended against approval in 2023, citing “inconsistencies” in environmental protections and risks to wildlife and coastal Indigenous communities. In May, an agency official overruled that recommendation to permit a large-scale oil-spill response drill that was treated as the last step before granting a license. Critics say some safety simulations and fauna response studies remain incomplete and will continue only after the license is issued.
The basin has attracted interest from major oil corporations for almost a decade
The basin, which is part of what the industry calls the Equatorial Margin, has drawn interest from major oil companies since breakthroughs offshore Guyana less than a decade ago. Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Petrobras won exploration rights in recent auctions. Several international firms, including TotalEnergies and BP, previously abandoned blocks in the area after failing to secure environmental permits, underscoring the region’s technical and regulatory challenges.
Brazilian officials argue revenue from new hydrocarbon finds will finance a transition to cleaner energy and help stabilize an economy that remains heavily dependent on fossil-fuel exports. Critics counter that expanding oil production is incompatible with global goals to cut greenhouse gases and with Brazil’s own emissions-reduction pledges.
The authorization could also carry diplomatic costs. Lula has branded the COP he will host “the COP of the truth” and has highlighted a reported 30% drop in Amazon deforestation in 2024 as evidence of progress. Environmental critics say the drilling approval undermines that message and risks provoking protests and legal challenges while international leaders gather in the Amazon for the talks.
Petrobras said drilling will proceed and that the company has plans in place to respond to potential accidents. The Climate Observatory and other groups said they will pursue judicial remedies to halt the operation while litigation is prepared. Ibama said additional environmental simulations would be conducted now that the license has been issued.