On Thursday, June 12th, at 3:00 pm CEST Urgewald invites you to an online press briefing with:
Nicole Figueiredo Oliveira, Director of Arayara (Brazil)
Nicole will present data on the scale and possible impacts of these extractive projects, especially in the context of Brazil as COP30 host.
Heffa Schuecking, Director of Urgewald (Germany)
Heffa will present details on the oil and gas companies involved in similar fossil fuel projects across the Amazon region.
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Please register here to attend.
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Only five months before the UN Climate Summit kicks off in Belém, the Brazilian government plans to open 145,597 km2 – an area larger than Nicaragua – for the exploration of new oil and gas resources. In an auction on June 17th, 2025, Brazil’s National Oil and Gas Agency, ANP, will offer exploration rights for 172 new oil and gas blocks to the highest bidders. The Brazilian NGO Arayara has filed a raft of legal motions to challenge the auction.
“Brazil has seen a 460% increase in climate-induced disasters such as severe flooding, storms and drought since the 1990s. As a signatory to the 2015 Paris Agreement and COP30 host country, our government must finally realize the obvious: We cannot solve the climate crisis unless we end the expansion of fossil fuels,” says Nicole Figueiredo Oliveira, Director of Arayara.
Background
47 of the 172 blocks up for auction are located in the mouth of the Amazon Basin, a highly sensitive region with an abundance of marine species and unique coral reefs that stretch over 200 km from the coast. Oil and gas production in this fragile habitat runs contrary to the Brazilian government’s conservation efforts and undermines hundreds of projects funded by the internationally backed, nearly billion-US-dollars-strong Amazon Fund.
Other important marine areas are also at risk: 76% of the oil and gas exploration blocks overlap with “Priority Areas for Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Conservation” recognized by Brazil’s environmental authorities. These plans endanger the livelihoods of at least 546,000 fisherfolk. Many of the proposed onshore blocks will also have serious impacts on indigenous territories or designated Priority Areas for Amazon Biome Conservation.
According to Oliveira, the auctioning of most of the planned exploration blocks is on shaky legal ground. For starters, it bypasses the usual cumulative environmental impact assessments, relying instead on a “Joint Statement” issued by the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Environment Ministry. The relevant Joint Statement for 117 of the 172 proposed blocks, however, expires on June 18th, one day after the scheduled auction and long before the actual exploration contracts would be signed – a violation of the applicable legal norm. The auction also violates the rights of affected indigenous communities to free, prior and informed consent as well as many of Brazil’s environmental regulations.
In the past, Arayara has successfully hindered the issuance of certain oil and gas permits.
