Petrobras took another step in the environmental licensing process to explore the Brazilian equatorial margin, with the completion of the fauna care and rehabilitation unit in Oiapoque, Amapá. The site is a veterinary service center for rescued animals and will mainly receive birds, marine mammals, turtles, dolphins and manicides.
The state-owned company said it received, last Friday (4), the license to operate the unit granted by the State Secretariat of Environment of Amapá. The site still needs to be inspected by the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) before operating. In addition to the center in Oiapoque, Petrobras already holds another unit in Belém, Pará, the Fauna Distracting and Rehabilitation Center.
Environmental requirement
The construction of the equipment is one of the requirements for the company to be perforations to verify the existence of oil in the FZA-M-59 block, in deep water from Amapá, about 500 km from the mouth of the Amazon River.
Petrobras has been trying to obtain Ibama’s endorsement for exploratory activity since 2022, and received a negative in 2023, which, among other points, highlighted the lack of a fauna protection plan, and a stabilization unit in the nearest place as possible, to expedite the care of animals affected by possible oil leaks.
The equatorial margin is a region of the Brazilian coast that extends from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte, and is considered an exploratory border by Petrobras, with estimated potential of 9 billion barrels. But environmentalists fear that the activity causes environmental imbalance, especially in the areas near the Amazon.