STJ Delays Ruling on Fracking Rules After Relator Takes Case for Review
The pause leaves open whether hydraulic fracturing will be allowed nationally, or whether contracts will be suspended pending wider environmental studies and rules.
Overview
- The Superior Tribunal de Justiça paused its judgment after relator Afrânio Vilela took the file for review following oral arguments, so no ministers have yet voted.
- The dispute grew from the ANP’s 2013 12th bidding round for five blocks in the Paraná Basin and a chain of lower‑court rulings that annulled the auction in 2017 and were reversed by TRF3 in 2019.
- The Ministério Público Federal asks the court to suspend the contracts and block new unconventional gas bids until area‑based environmental studies (AAAS) and a national regulatory framework are completed.
- ANP, Petrobras and industry lawyers say existing tools — ANP Resolution 21/2014, project‑by‑project licensing, well‑integrity rules and water permits — allow research and risk assessment without a national ban.
- The ruling could chart a middle path by preserving contracts while imposing conditions such as mandatory studies, monitoring, transparency or temporary suspensions, with big consequences for local water, seismic risk and investment certainty.