Overview
- President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and state oil firm Petrobras announced the reopening of onshore drilling in the Amazon and Petrobras pledged 2.5 billion real to finance 22 new wells at the Urucú field.
- Petrobras chief Magda Chambriard described the investment as a formal plan to resume activity in a basin that saw little onshore drilling for nearly a decade.
- Environmental groups and political critics sharply rejected the move, warning new wells could harm fragile rainforest ecosystems and threaten Indigenous lands and local livelihoods.
- Urucú has produced oil since the 1980s and is Brazil’s largest onshore deposit, but most national output comes from offshore fields off the Atlantic coast.
- The decision is likely to raise short‑term revenue for social programs and jobs in the north while prompting scrutiny of environmental safeguards, licensing and Brazil’s international climate credibility.