Brazilian prosecutors asked state-run oil firm Petrobras to do more studies before drilling off the coast of the Amazon rainforest, citing potential effects of extreme weather on tides, according to documents filed on Monday to environmental agency Ibama.
An oceanographer's technical assessment commissioned by the Federal Prosecutor's Office and dated Oct. 1 said extreme weather events such as recent droughts in the Amazon could create "unpredictable scenarios."
On that basis, prosecutors argued that an oil dispersion model used by Petrobras in its divisive bid for a drilling license near the mouth of the Amazon River is "insufficient."
Prosecutors said in a letter to Petrobras on Nov. 19 that if the company fails to comply with the "minimum technical requirements" for obtaining a license, they could file a lawsuit against Petrobras due to the threat of environmental harm.
Petrobras will respond to all the questions raised by prosecutors, the firm said in a statement, adding that it offered "infrastructure, resources, plans and socio-environmental programs that are much more robust" than those required by law.
Petrobras is trying to explore for oil fields off the far northern coast of Brazil in the so-called Equatorial Margin, which is considered the country's most promising oil frontier due to shared geology with nearby Guyana, where Exxon Mobil XOM.N is developing huge fields.
The Petrobras plan to drill in the environmentally sensitive region has opened a riftin the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva between some allies with environmental concerns and others trying to expand the oil and gas industry.
It is not the first time federal prosecutors have threatened to block the drilling plans, after they recommended Ibama deny a license to Petrobras due to possible harms to indigenous communities.
(Reuters - Reporting by Fabio Teixeira; Editing by Brad Haynes, Leslie Adler and Mark Porter)