A logo of Brazil’s state-run Petrobras oil company is seen at their headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 16, 2019. REUTERS
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 29 (Reuters) – The head of Brazil’s environmental agency Ibama chose to not reject a request from state oil company Petrobras to drill near the Amazon river, documents seen by Reuters showed on Tuesday, even after experts at the agency advocated the request be dismissed.
Ibama chief Rodrigo Agostinho instead asked Petrobras (PETR4.SA), for further details concerning Petrobras’ requested offshore drilling license for the Foz de Amazonas area off the coast of Amapa state, according to the regulatory documents.
Ibama last year blocked Petrobras from drilling the well, but the company filed a new request, which the agency is assessing. Ibama has no deadline to judge the appeal.
The decision defied a report from Ibama’s technical area, seen in another document, which recommended Agostinho close the case because Petrobras’ appeal did not provide “sufficient elements” for revisiting Ibama’s original decision.
The area is part of Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, which Petrobras considers its most promising new frontier for oil and gas exploration. The decision to drill in the region and stoked controversy due to the zone’s biodiversity and proximity to the Amazon rainforest.
Ibama’s technical area also argued that Petrobras’ request did not present a “viable alternative” to “satisfactorily mitigate the loss of biodiversity in the event of an oil spill accident.”
However, Agostinho said that Petrobras has shown progress that allows the environmental agency to keep analyzing and for talks between Ibama and Petrobras to continue, according to the documents.
Petrobras did not immediately reply to a request for comment sent outside of regular business hours.
Reporting by Marta Nogueira in Rio de Janeiro; Writing by Andre Romani; Editing by Brendan O’Boyle
