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District attorneys press Brazil regulators on Petrobras license to drill near Amazon mouth

Brazilian district attorneys, who have advised that environmental firm Ibama block drilling by staterun oil company Petrobras near the mouth of the Amazon river, has actually demanded that Ibama react within three days, a document seen shows.

The federal district attorneys workplace (MPF), an independent firm, filed a July 22 notice that appeared on Ibama's system on Monday, cautioning without citing a date that an unjustified hold-up in responding might have civil, administrative and penal consequences.

Petrobras, MPF and Ibama did not right away respond to ask for remark.

In May 2023, Ibama denied Petrobras' ask for an offshore drilling license for the Foz de Amazonas area off the coast of Amapa state. The oil company appealed soon after. The Equatorial Margin at the northern end of the area is Brazil's most appealing oil frontier, sharing geology with nearby Guyana, where Exxon Mobil is developing big fields.

Ibama President Rodrigo Agostinho said last month he anticipated a choice quickly.

Last August, prosecutors suggested that Ibama reject the appeal, citing possible damage to regional Indigenous neighborhoods and the environment.

The prosecutors' notification to Agostinho stated it is the duty of those who receive their suggestions to reply, which not doing so could be punishable with a prison sentence of one to 3 years, in addition to a fine.

The Petrobras plan has opened a rift in President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's federal government in between ecologists and advocates for regional growth of the oil and gas market.

Petrobras and Lula have been pressuring Ibama to issue the license, with Lula saying in June that he will not to throw. away any chance to make this nation grow..

(source: Reuters)