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Brazil's Petrobras required to examine Native impact of Amazon offshore drilling - documents

Brazil's staterun oil company Petrobras should do a series of research studies on the effect on Indigenous groups in the Amazon area of prepared offshore drilling close by in order to evaluate the task's. viability, according to a federal company and documents from. federal government firms.

The wide-ranging studies demanded by Brazil's ecological. company Ibama are meant to ascertain the social, cultural and. ecological influence on Indigenous individuals of drilling in the. Foz do Amazonas basin, part of the so-called Equatorial Margin.

The need for new studies belonged to set of files. sent by Ibama to Petrobras on April 17, and seen .

The requirement is a fresh difficulty in the company's efforts to. drill an exploratory well about 175 kilometers (110 miles) off. Brazil's northernmost coast, amid progressively stiff resistance. from regional Native leaders in Amapa state.

All research studies and requirements requested by Ibama within the. scope of ecological licensing and in accordance with. governing legislation were met by the company, stated Petrobras in. a statement, including that it is open to integrating brand-new. demands that might be needed.

The company has said that drilling in the region would. have no direct impact on Indigenous communities and argued. that the time to need an official consultation with them had. passed.

Petrobras CEO Jean Paul Prates has said he expects to start. drilling there this year still.

However, the extra studies are most likely to take a minimum of. 6 months, according to an individual near Brazil's Indigenous. affairs agency Funai.

That might further delay the strategies to check out the Foz do. Amazonas basin in the Atlantic Ocean, considered Brazil's many. Due to the fact that it shares geology, promising frontier for oil expedition. with the coast of neighboring Guyana, where Exxon is establishing big. fields. A year ago Ibama rejected Petrobras a license to drill in the. location, citing possible effect on Indigenous groups and the. sensitive coastal biome. Days later, Petrobras appealed the. decision, and has actually been waiting since then for Ibama's action.

In October, Ibama asked Funai to weigh in on the matter. before it decides on the appeal. Funai proposed in December that. Ibama ought to require a number of more research studies to examine impacts,. according to a government memo.

On April 17, Ibama sent out the memo to Petrobras, informing the. firm it need to address it.

Ibama's understanding is that Petrobras needs to fulfill these. demands, the company said in a declaration to , including that. a last word on the appeal would be impossible without it.

Funai decreased to give a timeline on how long the research studies. would take, adding that it depends on the schedule set by. Petrobras and a consultancy hired for the studies, which will be. submitted to the Native peoples.

Funai's memo in December laid out requirements for a. study to examine how the job would impact Indigenous. communities and their customs, local plants and animals and. economic activity in the location, culminating in a Viability. Analysis.

Funai stated that if the task is deemed viable, the. studies will be utilized to propose measures to reduce, control. and compensate for impacts, if needed.

Ibama's choice to require the study proposed by Funai. is a win for the Council of Chieftains of the Native People. of Oiapoque (CCPIO), an umbrella group representing the 8,000. Native individuals in the area.

Because 2022, CCPIO has pointed out effects from Petrobras. activities in the region on Indigenous communities, requiring a. 13-month formal consultation regarding their views on the. project.

CCPIO organizer Cacique Edmilson Oliveira considers the. regulative decision a triumph, he told by phone, including. the studies will provide Indigenous neighborhoods with a higher. understanding about what's taking place.

I think it is very important to have this information, said. Oliveira. We will not run the risk of suffering any damage.

He stated the oil business will have to take into consideration. the truth that seaside Indigenous lands might be threatened by. drilling even though the plan is to search for oil offshore.

(source: Reuters)