Paris (AFP)
The French oil group Total announced Monday to transfer to Petrobras its stake in an exploration project in Brazil, located in the mouth of the Amazon and contested for several years by environmental organizations.
At the beginning of September, Total had already announced that it was ending its role of "operator" in the five exploration sectors in question, a project in which it had been associated since 2013 with the British BP and the Brazilian Petrobras.
On Monday, the French group announced "to leave" the Foz do Amazonas basin, after having reached an agreement with Petrobras "on September 24 to transfer to it its participation in five exploration blocks", located 120 kilometers off Brazil.
"These blocks are referenced FZA-M-57, FZA-M-86, FZA-M-88, FZA-M-125 and FZA-M-127. The closing of the transaction is subject to the pre-emption rights of the partners in the blocks and standard regulatory approvals, "the statement said.
In December 2018, Total was refused by Brazil the environmental license to drill in these exploration blocks, due to "significant uncertainties" during emergency situations, the local press having at the time in particular mentioned "the possibility of an oil spill which could affect the coral reefs present in the region and by extension marine biodiversity.
The refusal of this permit was requested by the Brazilian public prosecutor's office and by environmental organizations.
According to the NGO Greenpeace, which published a press release in early September, Total had recently "relaunched the process of acquiring environmental licenses to drill near the Amazon Reef, a unique and vulnerable ecosystem, still little known".
The environmental association claimed that the oil group "was counting on Jair Bolsonaro, far-right president, notorious climate-skeptic, to relaunch its drilling projects off Brazil".
© 2020 AFP