Brazil Petrobras has been given permission to drill for oil near the mouth of the Amazon River, casting a shadow over the country's green ambitions as it prepares to host UN climate talks.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the president, has come under fire from environmentalists who say his plans to expand oil production conflict with his image as a world leader in the fight against climate change.
Brazil will hold Cop30 climate talks next month in the Amazonian city of Belem.
Petrobras said drilling in the Foz de Amazonas region would begin immediately and last five months, following a five-year battle over permission to explore the area.
“Petrobras has fulfilled all the requirements established [environmental watchdog] Ibama, fully complying with the environmental licensing process,” the oil giant said in a statement sent to AFP.
“We hope to get excellent results from this study and prove the existence of oil on the Brazilian part of this new global energy frontier,” said Magda Chambriard, president of Petrobras.
The company will drill an exploration well in an offshore area located 500 km (310 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon River at a depth of more than 2,800 meters (9,200 feet).
Drilling Block 59, 160km offshore, has been a passion project for Lula, who insists oil revenues will help finance Brazil's climate change transition.
Environmentalists sound the alarm about oil drilling off the coast of the world's largest rainforest, a biodiverse area home to several indigenous communities.
Brazilian NGO Climate Observatory said civil society organizations would go to court to challenge the decision, which was based on “illegalities and technical shortcomings” in the licensing process.
“This endorsement sabotages the police and runs counter to the climate leadership role that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva aspires to on the international stage,” the Climate Observatory said.
“This decision is disastrous from an environmental, climate and social biodiversity perspective.”
Foz de Amazonas is part of a promising new offshore oil field, and neighboring Guyana has become a major oil producer in less than a decade after major offshore discoveries.
Ibama denied Petrobras an exploration license in 2023, citing inadequate plans to protect wildlife in the event of an oil spill.
When Petrobras appealed, pressure increased from Lula, who said earlier this year that Ibama was a government agency acting as if it were acting “against the government.”
In February, an opinion signed by 29 Ibama technical staff and seen by AFP said the recommendation remained to “deny environmental licence”, highlighting the risk of “massive loss of biodiversity in a highly sensitive marine ecosystem”.
However, in May, Rodrigo Agostinho rejected this opinion and allowed Petrobras to continue oil spill response exercises, which were considered the last step before obtaining a license.
In September, Ibama approved a pre-operation environmental assessment despite Petrobras failing to demonstrate it could “reliably protect fauna in the event of an oil spill.”
Ibama said new fauna modeling would be carried out “after the license is issued.”
In February, Ibama technical staff noted that drilling conditions in the Foz de Amazonas basin, which is prone to severe storms and strong ocean currents, were very difficult.
