RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazilian environmental agency Ibama approved Petrobras’ emergency response test in the Foz do Amazonas basin, while also requesting some adjustments be made before granting the state-run oil firm a license to drill in the environmentally sensitive offshore region, documents seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday.
The area, in the northernmost part of Brazil’s Equatorial Margin, is considered Petrobras’ most promising oil frontier, sharing geology with nearby Guyana, where Exxon Mobil is developing huge fields.
In 2023, Ibama denied Petrobras a request to drill there, which the company immediately appealed, stoking divisions in Brazil’s government between environmental advocates and allies pushing for oil and gas development in the region.
For Petrobras, the emergency response test was the final stage of the environmental licensing process.
With the Ibama report completed, the head of the agency, Rodrigo Agostinho, can make a final decision to grant or deny the license.
(Reporting by Fabio Teixeira; Editing by Kylie Madry)
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