Brazil’s Institute of the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) issued a permit on Monday (20) allowing Petrobras to drill an exploratory oil well in Block 59, located in the Foz do Amazonas basin, about 175 kilometers off the coast of Amapá state. It is the first drilling license granted along Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, a stretch of coast running from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte. Petrobras announced that drilling will begin immediately.
The decision has alarmed experts and, less than a month before COP30, cast doubt on the Brazilian government’s commitment to its climate targets, including the gradual reduction of fossil fuel use.
“The license for Block 59 is a double act of sabotage. On one hand, the Brazilian government acts against humanity by encouraging further fossil expansion, defying science, and betting on more global warming,” warned Suely Araújo, public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory and former Ibama president, in a statement to the press. “On the other, it undermines COP30 itself, whose most important outcome should be implementing the decision to phase out fossil fuels,” she said.
The International Arayara Institute, an organization dedicated to environmental defense for more than 30 years, called the decision a “dangerous precedent” that could “open the floodgates for 52 other unlicensed blocks along the Equatorial Margin to be released and explored, threatening to turn one of the planet’s most sensitive regions into a new oil corridor.”
A fragile ecosystem at risk
The activities put additional pressure on an area that should be at the center of global conservation efforts. The Equatorial Margin contains the world’s largest continuous mangrove belt and the Amazon Reef System (GARS), covering about 9,500 km² and connecting the ecosystems of the South Atlantic to the Caribbean. An oil spill in this area would pose catastrophic risks to biodiversity.
Even without a major accident, the project threatens flora, fauna, and traditional communities. According to Arayara, Ibama’s decision endangers 78% of Amazonian biodiversity, 2.7 million Indigenous people, and 10 million hectares of forest, an area equivalent to more than a million soccer fields.
Carlos Nobre, co-chair of the Scientific Panel for the Amazon, warned that the rainforest is approaching a tipping point beyond which it will no longer regenerate. This could occur if global warming reaches 2°C and deforestation surpasses 20%.
To avoid that scenario, Nobre said it is crucial to “end all deforestation, degradation, and burning in the Amazon” while also reducing all fossil fuel emissions. “There is no justification for any new oil exploration. On the contrary, rapidly phasing out existing fossil fuels is essential,” he said.
‘A death project advancing over the Amazon’
The exploitation of oil blocks in the Foz do Amazonas carries risks that go far beyond potential spills or leaks during drilling and production.
“The impacts of oil exploration do not start only when spills occur. Oil causes damage from the moment the search begins,” explained Kerlem Carvalho, oceanographer and coordinator of Arayara’s ocean program.
Infrastructure expansion, such as building roads for cargo transport, increases deforestation pressure. Arayara also points to water pollution, marine life disturbance, including noise pollution, and tanker leaks among the key environmental damages. The increased traffic of large vessels, they note, harms artisanal and riverside fishers.
“This license is not neutral. It is part of a death project advancing over the Amazon under the same old logic: exploit as much as possible and leave a trail of destruction,” said Sila Mesquita, general coordinator of the Amazon Working Group (GTA), a grassroots network founded in 1992 that unites 16 regional collectives across nine Amazonian states.
“We, the peoples of the forest, women, river dwellers, Indigenous and quilombola communities, refuse to keep being treated as sacrifice zones in the name of a progress that never includes us,” she added.
‘A rigorous licensing process,’ says Ibama
In a statement to BdF, the Unified Federation of Oil Workers (FUP) said the license was issued “after extensive dialogue between Ibama and Petrobras”, and that part of the revenue from oil exploration will be directed toward the energy transition.
“We recall the bill [PL 4184/2025] under discussion in Congress, which ensures that these revenues are invested in the region and that subnational funds are created to guarantee that this wealth remains in the North and Northeast, where Brazil’s lowest human development indicators are found,” said Deyvid Bacelar, FUP’s general coordinator.
The PL 4184/2025 bill establishes a Special Sharing Regime for Oil and Natural Gas Production on Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, allocating public resources exclusively to environmental protection and sustainable development in the North and Northeast regions.
Ibama also stated that “the license was issued following a rigorous environmental review process.” The approval came after three previous rejections.
The current license was granted three months after the latest auction by the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) in July, when 19 exploration blocks were awarded along the Equatorial Margin, all involving U.S. companies and half including a Chinese consortium.
