Overview

• The regulator deemed Petrobras’s pre-operational assessment (APO) for Block FZA-59 approved, advancing the final stage of environmental licensing without granting the license itself.
• Ibama flagged divergences from Petrobras’s submitted plans, including vessel positioning and wildlife response strategy, and ordered a new fauna exercise.
• A detailed technical opinion signed by 16 evaluators listed points for attention and improvement that Petrobras must address.
• The late-August drill simulated an oil spill, a potential BOP issue, and an ROV deployment, mobilizing over 400 people, the NS-42 rig, multiple vessels and aircraft, and a fauna center in Oiapoque.
• Petrobras had not responded to requests for comment at the time of publication, leaving the timeline for a licensing decision unclear.