Petrobras CEO: Oil spillage Brazil’s biggest environmental disaster
The spilled oil that reached the coast of Brazil’s Northeast is the biggest environmental aggression suffered by Brazil in history, Petrobras CEO Roberto Castello Branco said in Rio d Janeiro on Tuesday (Oct 29) during a seminar on Brazil’s energy network.
The head of the Brazilian state-controlled oil giant said the matter has been tackled in a “politicized and ideological” manner in Brazil, with “false versions” about what could have been done to prevent the disaster.
“Actually, it was impossible to fight it in its origin. Oil companies and Petrobras are ready to combat oil spills, as long as their source is identified,” he stated.
Castello Branco compared the incident on Brazilian beaches to the environmental disaster that took place in the Mexican Gulf in April 2010, caused by a leak at British Petroleum. “It’s similar,” he said.
The source of the oil drifting to the Northeastern beaches is still not known, but scientists have identified that the spillage occurred in the ocean, 600 to 700 km off the coast, somewhere between the states of Sergipe and Alagoas. One of the most probable hypotheses is that the oil was extracted from three fields in Venezuela, and was probably being transported when the accident happened.
“Extraordinary year”
The Petrobras CEO went on to say that the oil sector has seen “an extraordinary year” in Brazil, describing next week’s surplus auctions for the transfer of rights to explore pre-salt oil as an achievement made by the governmen.
“The globe’s demand for oil tends to grow slowly, maybe come to a standstill, and then sink in the future. We can’t wait and leave the oil under the sea,” he argued.
Castello Branco noted that, prioritizing the more profitable assets, Petrobras expressed its preference for only two pre-salt oil fields: Itapu and Búzios, the latter being Brazil’s biggest field so far. The company is optimistic, he said. “We’ll be there enthusiastically, to win.”
