![]() ![]() But the unusual depth of this formation - reaching more than 100 meters (400 ft) - coupled with the Amazon silt clouding the waters, delayed that confirmation until just five years ago, just as the government was putting drilling leases out for tender.Įnvironmentalists, led by campaigner Greenpeace, are now pressuring regulators to block oil exploration in the area. ![]() Some geologists say the area, known as the Foz do Amazonas Basin, may contain as many as 14 billion barrels of petroleum, more than the entire proven reserves of Mexico.īut another underwater discovery threatens to derail Total’s plans: a massive system of coral reefs just 28 kilometers from where the French firm and its partners, Britain’s BP PLC and Brazilian state oil company Petroleo Brasileiro SA, plan to drill.īrazilian scientists had suspected since the 1970s that the area might be home to a sizeable reef. Metal drill bits, pipes and containers filled with equipment sit in the tropical port of Belém, near the mouth of the vast Amazon River, ready to sink the first exploratory wells 120 km (75 miles) offshore. OIAPOQUE, Brazil, May 12 - Deep beneath the waters of the Atlantic off Brazil’s most northern coast, French major Total SA is hunting for what it hopes will be Latin America’s next big oil discovery. (Repeats for additional clients with no changes to text) ![]()
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