New head of Petrobras calls for speeding up oil exploration May 28, 2024
- Ana Cunha-Busch
- May 27, 2024
- 2 min read
By AFP - Agence France Presse
New head of Petrobras calls for speeding up oil exploration
The new head of Brazil's Petrobras said on Monday that it is crucial for the state-owned company to “accelerate” oil exploration, including in a controversial offshore basin near the mouth of the Amazon River.
Former regulator Magda Chambriard took over as CEO of the oil giant on Friday, after left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sacked her predecessor.
In her first press conference, the 66-year-old said that exploring “new frontiers” was fundamental to the company's survival, touching on an issue that divided the Lula government and infuriated environmentalists.
“This company's exploratory effort... needs to be accelerated,” she said.
“The focus is on ensuring that Petrobras' oil assets continue to grow. This means that it is essential to continue exploring oil off the Brazilian coast. This includes the Equatorial Margin and the Amapá coast,” she said.
The Equatorial Margin is a basin near the mouth of the Amazon River, considered Brazil's most promising frontier for oil exploration, with studies suggesting the existence of huge deposits of crude oil.
It is close to regions in Guyana, French Guiana, and Suriname that have recently made major oil discoveries.
However, environmentalists warn of the possible devastating impacts on the ecologically sensitive region.
The project sparked a battle within the Lula government and the environmental protection agency, IBAMA, denied Petrobras an exploration license in May last year.
Environmental groups have long opposed crude oil exploration projects in the area where the Amazon meets the Atlantic Ocean, warning that it could pose risks to a barrier of freshwater reefs discovered there in 2016.
Chambriard said that the energy ministry of the world's seventh-largest oil-producing country “would love to drill” in that area.
“We need authorization to explore. We will have to talk to the Environment Ministry and show what Petrobras is offering in terms of environmental care, much more than the law requires,” said Chambriard.
She said that the deepwater deposits that Brazil has been exploring for the last 15 years will reach their peak in 2030.
“We have to be careful with the reserves, and imports are out of the question,” she said.
Chambriard was appointed after her predecessor, Jean-Paul Prates, was sacked earlier this month following a dispute between Petrobras and shareholders over dividend payments.
She is the company's sixth CEO in less than three years, following a turbulent period that included a major corruption scandal in the 2010s.
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