Petrobras animal center at Oiapoque will be ready for inspection by April

Documents seen by on Monday showed that the environmental agency Ibama should be able to inspect the veterinary center operated by Petrobras Brazil in the Amazon region in April. The center is designed to help animals in case of an oil spill.

Petrobras has not yet met the demands of Ibama to build an animal care center near the Amapa state town of Oiapoque. This is a requirement that Ibama made in order for Petrobras to be able to get approval to drill offshore in the environmentally sensitive Foz do Amazonas area.

The document dated 14 March stated that the work on the center would be completed by the end of March, and Ibama may schedule a trip to inspect the facility starting April 7.

Sources say that despite the fact that Petrobras executives had said that drilling at the center was the last request from Ibama last month, the technical staff of the agency requested that Rodrigo Agostinho, the head of Ibama deny this request.

Agostinho has been under pressure by President Luiz inacio Lula da So, who said last month that Ibama was "a government agency which seems to be working against the government", due to the delay it took to approve the license.

Ibama has blocked Petrobras's ability to drill the well by 2023. However, the company has filed a second request which is being assessed at the moment. There is no deadline for a final decision.

Foz do Amazonas in Brazil's so-called Equatorial Margin, shares geology with Guyana, which is nearby, and is where Exxon Mobil has developed huge oil fields.

Petrobras has been met with stiff opposition from the local Indigenous communities of Oiapoque, as well as federal prosecutors in relation to its bid to drill here. (Reporting and editing by David Evans; Fabio Teixeira)

(source: Reuters)