Amazonas basin drilling site not ecologically sensitive, Total claims

May 4, 2018
Total has responded to Greenpeace’s claim of sensitive flora in one of its five exploration blocks in the Foz do Amazonas basin offshore Brazil.

Offshore staff

PARIS – Total has responded to Greenpeace’s claim of sensitive flora in one of its five exploration blocks in the Foz do Amazonas basin offshore Brazil.

During a recent expedition to northern Brazil on the vessel Esperanza, the NGO Greenpeace went to the border limits of block FZA-M-86, 120 km (75 mi) offshore. It then declared it had found rhodolith beds within the area it surveyed at a water depth of around 180 m (590 ft).

Total countered that it had identified no biogenic formation in adjacent block FZA-M-57, where its first planned exploration well, in around 1,800 m (5,905 ft) of water, will be 28 km (17.4 mi) from the rodholith beds previously identified and 34 km (21 mi) from the location where the NGO claims to have found rhodoliths more recently.

The company added that it operates in stringent compliance with the applicable legislation and applies best E&P industry practice in safety, well design, drilling and environmental protection.

05/04/2018