Drillship to Set Off for Petrobras’ Foz do Amazonas by End of May
May 21, 2025
Brazilian oil firm Petrobras will have a drill ship ready to make the trip to the northern state of Amapa by the end of the month, three sources close to the matter told Reuters, as the company rushes for a drilling license for the Foz do Amazonas Basin.
According to the sources, work to clear corals from the underside of the drilling vessel is almost done, and then it would be ready to leave for the region considered Brazil's most promising frontier for oil exploration.
On Monday, Brazil's environmental agency Ibama approved state-run Petrobras' concept of an emergency plan to assist local fauna in case of an oil spill, with the firm now expected to run a simulation that it said is the last step before being granted the license.
The drill ship would take 20 to 30 days to get to Amapa after leaving Rio de Janeiro, where it currently is, meaning the whole process could be done by the end of June, said a source.
The date for the simulation will be set in common agreement between Petrobras and Ibama. But it would be "difficult" for it to happen in June, a source at Ibama told Reuters, adding they would have to move personnel around to run the simulation.
Planning for the simulation will begin, said Ibama in a statement to Reuters, adding it was not yet possible to say when it would take place.
Ibama's staff was mostly against Petrobras' bid, having signed a document in February saying the plan to rescue fauna had only a "remote possibility" of being successful.
The environmentally sensitive region is home to vast coral reefs, and coastal Indigenous communities.
In 2023, Ibama denied a Petrobras request to drill in the area, which the company immediately appealed, stoking divisions in Brazil's government between environmental advocates and allies pushing for oil and gas development in the region.
(Reuters - Reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier and Fabio Teixeira in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by David Gregorio)
