French oil major Total has given up operatorship over five exploration blocks located in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, offshore Brazil.
"Total announces that it has notified its partners on August 19 about its resignation from its role of operator for five exploration blocks, located in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, 120 kilometers offshore Brazil," the company said Monday.
The exploration blocks in question are FZA-M-57, FZA-M-86, FZA-M-88, FZA-M-125 and FZA-M-127.
The decision comes almost two years after the Brazilian environmental regulator Ibama denied Total a permit to drill in the environmentally sensitive Basin for a fifth and final time. Ibama at the time said that oil exploration in the area would present risks to reefs and biodiversity.
Earlier in 2018, Greenpeace said that it had found rhodolith beds within the area where Total planned to drill for oil. Rodolith are alcareous algae that work as a habitat for fish and other reef creatures
"The finding proves the existence of a reef formation in the area and invalidates Total’s Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), which states the closest reef formation is 8 kilometres away from one of the oil blocks," Greenpeace said in April 2018, calling for the Brazilian government to deny the company’s license to drill for oil in the area.
Responding to Greenpeace's claims at the time, Total said that no biogenic formation had been identified in Block FZA-M-57, and that the planned exploration well in Block FZA-M-57 would be 28 km away from the rhodolith beds previously identified "and 34 km away from the location where the NGO would have found rhodoliths more recently."
However, come September 2020, Total is now giving up on the operatorship over the offshore blocks in the basin.
Total said Monday it had informed the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) of the decision to drop operatorship in the offshore blocks.
According to Total, the move opens a period of 6-months during which a new operator will be appointed and to whom the operating activities will be handed over.
During this period, Total has the duty to continue monitoring all regulatory processes on behalf of its partners Petrobras and BP, its partners in the blocks.