Sao Paulo, Brazil, Aug. 18, 2026 (Lusa) - Brazil's President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has described the oil recently discovered off the Amazon coast as a «passport to the future», whilst environmental organisations have spoken out against oil exploration in the region.
The state-owned oil company Petrobras announced on Friday that it had detected signs of oil in deep waters, 175 kilometres off the Amazonian coast, in a vast maritime region known as the Equatorial Margin.
The company had begun drilling in October, following a five-year process to obtain an environmental licence.
«The oil discovered is a passport to this country's future, and by saying this I am not renouncing my fight to ensure that one day we will no longer need fossil fuels,» said Lula on Monday at a Petrobras operations base.
The head of state argued that the exploitation of new reserves would strengthen Brazil's «national sovereignty».
«I'm going to keep a sample, (...) it smells so good,» said the left-wing leader, showing a sample of crude oil after visiting the vessel that detected oil offshore last week.
According to Petrobras's chair, Magda Chambriard, a further 15 to 20 days of drilling will be needed to gauge the scale of the discovery.
Further studies will determine whether it can be considered «commercially viable», although there are reasons to be «extremely optimistic», she added.
However, environmental organisations have warned of the risks in an area rich in biodiversity, situated next to the world's largest rainforest.
The discovery «does not resolve the problems identified during the environmental licensing process», Suely Araújo, leader of the Climate Observatory – a network of Brazilian civil society environmental organisations – told the France-Presse news agency.
According to the expert, the region's indigenous communities were not consulted before the drilling was authorised, and there were miscalculations regarding the consequences of a potential oil spill.
Lula, aged 80, will stand for a fourth non-consecutive term of office in October.
The former trade unionist advocates a gradual phase-out of fossil fuels to curb climate change, but believes that the country — set to be the world's ninth-largest oil producer by 2025 — cannot, for the time being, do without this source of revenue.
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