Discovery of oil in the Amazon is “passport of the future” of Brazil

A declaration was made after the president of the state, Magda Chambriard, confirm the discovery of oil in the region, part of the so-called equatorial margin, in a press conference in Oiapoque, on the coast of the state of Amapá, in the presence of Lula.

“This here [oil in the Amazon Foz] can be called passport for the future of this country”, Lula said, arguing that resources will cost the energy transition and economic development of the country and the state of Amapá.

“ And when I speak passport for the future of this country, I am not denying my struggle that one day we do not need to use more fossil fuel ", Lula said, whose environmental authorization for Petrobras to research oil in the region was criticized.

“The country will continue to be a king country in biofuels, and very big on the issue of renewable fuels,” he stressed.

The Brazilian President also stressed that he met today a Petrobras machine able to “close the oil well” in case of “incident”, in comparison with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, in 2010.

The Equatorial Margin extends from the states of Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast region, and has five oil basins: Foz do Amazonas, Pará-Maranhão, Barreirinhas, Ceará and Potiguar.

The oil exploration in the Amazon Foz basin is considered strategic by Petrobras to expand its reserves, but faces criticism from environmental agencies and other entities.

Ecologists are opposed and critical of oil exploration in the region, which they consider “extreme sensitivity” by housing environmental reserves, indigenous territories, mangroves and coral reefs, with marine diversity including endangered species.

Oil exploration in the Amazon Foz is also a sensitive point in Lula da Silva's third term and caused cracks between the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

Petrobras announced last Friday that it identified hydrocarbons in the FZA-M-59 block, in the Morpho well, 175 kilometers from the Amapá coast, at a depth of 2,886 meters.

Last week's announcement, according to Petrobras, showed only signs of oil and gas discovery in Foz do Amazonas, which was only confirmed today.

The president of Petrobras said today that drilling the well will take 15 to 20 days to finish and then it will be possible to estimate the size of the oil reserve.

“ We have oil, we have discovered (...) We still need to delimit the discovery, know how much oil actually exists in this area ", declared.

“ Three more wells are planned for drilling in this region. In addition, there are five other wells in adjacent areas. It is this huge exploratory effort that will tell us the real potential of the region ", completed.