Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Oil, gas and coal operations · Brazil · 2023–2026

Foz do Amazonas drilling licence

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured. Disputed
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 3 insufficient · 1 not measured · 2 disputed See the gaps
Accounts of the harm differ
Should drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin be licensed?
  • Government and regulators IBAMA (May 2023): Refused Petrobras the drilling licence. Eixos
  • Government and regulators IBAMA (October 2025): Issued Petrobras the drilling licence. SBT News
  • Government and regulators IBAMA (September 2026): Authorised three new wells. Cenário Energia

Brazil's environmental agency IBAMA refused Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin in May 2023 and issued one in October 2025. In September 2026 a trade outlet reported that it had authorised three new wells.

About 2.5 years estimateTime from refusal to licence, Foz do Amazonas basin
Estimate: 17 May 2023 to 20 October 2025.

Status As of September 2026: IBAMA, which refused Petrobras a drilling licence in the basin in May 2023, issued one in October 2025 and authorised three new wells; no court outcome is in the record.

What?
IBAMA refused Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin in May 2023, issued one in October 2025 and authorised three new wells in September 2026. Cenário Energia
Where?
The Foz do Amazonas basin, offshore at the mouth of the Amazon, northern Brazil. SBT News
When?
Refusal 17 May 2023; licence 20 October 2025; three new wells September 2026. Cenário Energia
Who?
Gained
  • Petrobras — Licence to drill in the basin (October 2025) and authorisation for three new wells (September 2026). Cenário Energia
Lost
None on record
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The reasons given for the 2025 licence are not in the record.
How?
Through IBAMA's environmental licensing of Petrobras's drilling application. SBT News
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Foz do Amazonas is an offshore oil basin at the mouth of the Amazon, off northern Brazil. Petrobras, Brazil's state oil company, sought a licence from IBAMA, the federal environmental agency, to drill there.

On 17 May 2023 IBAMA refused the licence, according to the Brazilian outlet Eixos.

On 20 October 2025, about two and a half years after the refusal, IBAMA issued Petrobras a licence to drill in the basin, the Brazilian broadcaster SBT News reported. The licence was issued weeks before COP30, the UN climate conference that Brazil hosted.

In September 2026 the trade outlet Cenário Energia reported that IBAMA had authorised Petrobras to drill three new wells in the basin. In the same period Mongabay reported that Amazon deforestation had fallen to a ten-year low in the first half of 2026. Brazil's government has set a goal of zero deforestation by 2030.

  1. 202317 May: IBAMA refuses Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin
  2. 202520 October: IBAMA issues Petrobras a drilling licence in the basin, weeks before COP30
  3. 2026July: Mongabay reports Amazon deforestation at a ten-year low for the first half of 2026
  4. 2026September: IBAMA authorises three new wells, according to Cenário Energia

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Should drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin be licensed?
Government and regulators
IBAMA (May 2023)

Refused Petrobras the drilling licence.

Eixos
Government and regulators
IBAMA (October 2025)

Issued Petrobras the drilling licence.

SBT News
Government and regulators
IBAMA (September 2026)

Authorised three new wells.

Cenário Energia

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • Zero deforestation by 2030, and hosting of COP30.
    Brazilian government
  • Sponsorship programmes listed on Petrobras's homepage include “Soluções Baseadas na Natureza” (nature-based solutions) and the Petrobras Social and Environmental Program.
    Petrobras (company website)

Recorded

  • IBAMA refused Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin on 17 May 2023.
    Eixos
  • IBAMA issued a drilling licence in the basin on 20 October 2025.
    SBT News
  • IBAMA authorised three new wells in September 2026.
    Cenário Energia
  • Amazon deforestation fell to a ten-year low in the first half of 2026.
    Mongabay
  • Brazil's Congress overrode vetoes on 52 provisions of the environmental licensing law days after COP30.

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Currency: · Window: . All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • IBAMA (17 May 2023): Refused Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin. · Eixos
  • IBAMA (20 October 2025): Issued Petrobras a drilling licence in the Foz do Amazonas basin. · SBT News
  • IBAMA (September 2026): Authorised Petrobras to drill three new wells in the basin. · Cenário Energia

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Licence decision
Refused 2023, granted 2025
IBAMA decisions on Petrobras's application, Foz do Amazonas basin
New wells authorised
3
September 2026, according to Cenário Energia
Amazon deforestation, first half of 2026
Ten-year low
Mongabay, July 2026

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
  • Disputed Should drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin be licensed?

Record

  • None on record Reasons given for the 2025 licence are not in the record.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: IBAMA's then president, Rodrigo Agostinho, refused the licence for block FZA-M-59 on the basis of a technical opinion dated 20 April 2023, citing inadequate environmental guarantees in the event of an oil spill.
  • Disputed Reported but not independently verified: Greenpeace sued over the 2025 licence, saying it contradicted IBAMA's own technical opinions and the recommendations of the federal prosecutors' office (MPF).
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: IBAMA also refused a drilling licence in the same basin to Total in 2018.
  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: in 2023 deforestation fell in the Amazon while rising 68% in the Cerrado (IPAM).

Did the harm stop?

No spill or drilling outcome is recorded; the record covers the licensing decisions only.

Who paid?

No harm and no payment are recorded; the record covers licensing decisions only.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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