BNDES will analyze Exploration of the Equatorial Margin by Petrobras

The president of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES), Aloízio Mercadante (Photo), reported this Friday (2nd), in Rio de Janeiro, that the institution is going to start studies on the possibility of oil production on the Brazilian Equatorial Margin by Petrobras. This will occur, however, after studies by the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and Petrobras itself, which submitted a request for authorization to prospect 540 kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon River.

While emphasizing that the debate on the subject has to be carried out in a sustainable manner and, “necessarily, from a perspective of sustainable energy production”, Mercadante recalled that oil will still remain an important matrix during the coming decades.

To illustrate the importance of oil exploration in the region, he mentioned the case of Guyana, whose reserves are estimated to be between 11 billion and 25 billion barrels of oil equivalent, “which means wealth between US$ 850 billion and US$ 2 trillion ”.

In Guyana, last year, 360,000 barrels/day were produced. Guyana’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from BRL 4.3 billion in 2015 to BRL 7.7 billion in 2021. It is expected to be the second oil producing country in South America, reaching 1. 6 million barrels/day by 2030.

Expectation

According to Mercadante, the expectation regarding the Brazilian Equatorial Margin covers reserves that may vary between 10 billion and 30 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which would mean reserves between US$ 770 billion and US$ 2.3 trillion. If everything is authorized, the start of production is scheduled for 2030.

The BNDES president added that “it only makes sense for us to discuss this issue from the perspective of preserving the forest, sustaining the region environmentally and creating an alternative economy that is a decarbonized economy”. This discussion has to be done very calmly, including the use of these resources, he assured.

“There is a very important environmental discussion. Ibama has to be very rigorous in this matter of protection, not only of the ocean, but also of the coast that will be used as a support base”, he said. Therefore, he stated that the BNDES will study the subject in depth, always using science and historical experience as a reference. Guyana’s experience will also be observed, since the wealth discovered has paralyzed deforestation, said the president of the BNDES.

He did not want to advance a position on the subject. “The BNDES is slow, it is solid, it will study in depth and, at the right moment, it will position itself”, he assured. The bank has a working group with Petrobras and intends to help build a convergent position, “which is what the country needs”. The Equatorial Margin is not currently on the bank’s agenda, he said. The topic will also be discussed with the Ministry of the Environment (MMA).

Viability

The governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho, met this Friday (2) with Mercadante, at the bank’s headquarters, in Rio, to discuss the COP 30 project, defended that the exploration of the Equatorial Margin by Petrobras should be discussed in the licensor’s field federal government, which is Ibama, which “has the obligation to assess the impacts and establish, by reading the viability, which conditions will be dialoguing with this spectrum of viability”.

At the moment, he highlighted that it should be discussed, through research, whether the project has economic and environmental viability. After that, the Brazilian state will have to decide whether or not to advance in this matrix, whether on the Equatorial Margin or in any other location on the coastline of Brazil.

Once it has been proven that it is possible to reconcile, through environmental constraints, exploration in a basin that is 540 kilometers from the mouth of the Amazon, Barbalho sees no reason why the region cannot be explored and bring an economic alternative with a bias towards resources, including for the preservation of the forest.

The capital of Pará, Belém, will host the 30th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 30), in November 2025. The COP 30 Project was discussed between the president of BNDES and the governor of Pará and will receive reimbursable and non-reimbursable resources of BRL 5 billion.