The Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) approved the sale of Total’s stake in blocks from Foz do Amazonas to Petrobras. As a reminder, in September last year, the French oil company gave up on the business after successive unsuccessful attempts to obtain Ibama’s environmental license for drilling wells in the areas.
Petrobras will keep the operation and 70% stake in blocks FZA-M-57, FZA-M-86, FZA-M-88, FZA-M-125 and FZA-M-127. The remaining 30% is in the hands of partner BP. It will now be up to the Brazilian state-owned company to obtain the environmental license for the project, which has been repeatedly denied to Total.
There is an expectation that the area will contain gigantic oil reserves, classified by Petrobras itself as an “exploratory frontier with high potential on the Brazilian equatorial margin”. But environmental groups say the exploration of the region would put a rare coral reef nearby at risk.
Source: PetroNoticias
Brazil Energy Insight 
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