Petrobras was authorized by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) to carry out a simulation for pre-operational assessment in the Amapá region in ultra-deep waters. “Petrobras has to show all the capacity to contain any leak,” explained this Friday (6th) the company’s director of Exploration and Production, Fernando Borges. 
Borges said that the drilling rig has already been contracted and the company will hire seven support boats for this operation and two helicopters. “You simulate a spill that is done there, on site, with all the resources available and there is a demonstration that the resources allocated are competent for you to deal with any event”.
Borges said that, from this simulation, Ibama will be able to issue the drilling license and Petrobras will immediately be able to start the drilling operation in the block, which is 160 kilometers away from the coast of the extreme north of Amapá, about 40 kilometers from the border with Guyana.
“We expect a return to exploration on the equatorial margin [do Amazonas], since the last well drilled there dates from 2015, and it is a region that goes from Amapá to Rio Grande do Norte”. The state-owned company has around 450 exploratory or production wells drilled in the region. “Petrobras is prepared to meet all the requirements for the proper environmental licensing and we hope that this opens up the opportunity for us to continue exploration in the other basins on the equatorial margin.”
For 2022, in relation to exploratory activity, Petrobras plans to drill nine offshore wells (high seas), eight in Brazil and one in Colombia, in addition to a partnership in an exploratory well in Argentina. Of this total of eight wells in Brazil, three have already been drilled. The upcoming drillings include two wells in the Espírito Santo Maritime Basin and a well in Amapá, in deep water.
