Brazil blocks oil giant from drilling at Amazon River mouth

Brazilian authorities have denied state-owned oil company Petrobras an environmental license to carry out exploratory drilling at the mouth of the Amazon River.

The Petrobras project has “worrying inconsistencies for safe operation” in an area of high socio-environmental vulnerability, the government’s environmental agency Ibama said in its report on Wednesday rejecting the license.

The drilling area proposed by Petrobras is 180 kilometers (110 miles) off the coast of Amapa state, bordering French Guiana.

Last month, Ibama reported “deficiencies” in the project’s impact assessment, including the protection of fauna in case of accidents, or in the communication plan with local Indigenous villages.

There would be a “probable loss of impacted biodiversity in case of accidents involving oil spills,” according to the documents.