Petrobras confident of obtaining license to drill in Foz do Amazonas

Petrobras is confident it will get the license to drill in the Foz do Amazonas basin, in Brazil's environmentally sensitive Equatorial Margin, the federal oil company's executive director for exploration and production (E&P), Sylvia dos Anjos, told the Rio Oil and Gas conference.

“We’re fighting harder to obtain the license and working to meet all of [environmental regulator] Ibama's requirements,” she said at the event in Rio de Janeiro. 

Anjos argued that it is essential for Brazil to have new discoveries given the prospect of peak oil production at the beginning of the next decade. 

She said more than 600 wells have already been drilled in the Equatorial Margin, in the shallow waters of the Ceará and Potiguar basins. This year, two deepwater wells in the latter were drilled by the state-owned company. 

Anjos said the wells planned for Foz do Amazonas are around 200km off the coast of Amapá state. 

“Drilling the well will not damage the coast. We have very high technology rigs and 13 boats to protect [the area] if anything happens. We’re doubling security compared with the southeast basins,” the Petrobras director said, claiming that most oil spills happen during transportation by tankers.  

Anjos admitted that Petrobras is eying potential opportunities abroad, including in Namibia, where Portugal's Galp is selling a stake in the Mopane block. 

“But our priority is always Brazil. We have US$3.5bn to invest in the Equatorial Margin,” she said.