BRAZIL: Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompts tightening of safeguards in the hope of preventing a similar disaster off its shores

Record ID: 343421

  • Title: BRAZIL: Gulf of Mexico oil spill prompts tightening of safeguards in the hope of preventing a similar disaster off its shores
  • Date: 8th May 2010
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 7, 2010) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF BUILDINGS AT RIO DE JANEIRO'S DOWNTOWN GENERAL VIEW OF BRIDGE ACROSS GUANABARA BAY BANNER OUTSIDE RIO'S ENVIRONMENT OFFICE WHERE BRAZILIAN AUTHORITIES HELD A NEWS CONFERENCE CLOSE OF BANNER, READING: "ENVIRONMENTAL COLLAPSE" GENERAL VIEW OF AUTHORITIES AND REPORTERS DURING NEWS CONFERENCE BRAZILIAN ENVIRO
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Industry,Energy
  • Reuters ID: LVABQ1Q5HTW6B2PO4DEMI2NKCDX1
  • Story Text: Brazil on Friday (May 7) said it would take extra measures to ensure the safety of its offshore oil rigs in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
    Brazilian Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said a group would analyze risks on the country's oil platforms, but said it was too early to say if Brazil would change its environmental regulation for offshore drilling in the wake of the BP spill.
    A group of experts will map and study the risks of accidents in Brazil's oil drilling offshore platforms, especially in the country's three largest oil-producing states -- Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo and Sao Paulo.
    Specialists will use the report on the causes of the April 20 deep-water accident off the coast of Louisiana to see what improvements could be made.
    Teixeira said that Brazil's Environmental Agency (IBAMA) already performed annual accident drills to check if the platforms met the environmental license requirements.
    "We carry out yearly simulations in every Brazilian platform with an environmental license, simulating more critical situations (than the one in the Gulf of Mexico). IBAMA (Brazil's Environmental Agency) officials arrive without previous notice and tell the operators (of the platform) that they will perform an accident drill during which all the structures should be available (for examination) and meeting the terms of the environmental license," she said during a news conference in Rio.
    Teixeira added that any changes to existing licensing procedures or contingency plans would depend on the results of an investigation into the causes of the oil spill accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
    The vast majority of the roughly 2 million barrels per day that state oil company Petrobras produces in Brazil come from offshore fields, and most of the country's future output growth is seen coming from ultra-deep water fields.
    Teixeira said that Brazil was doing what was necessary to ensure safe operations.
    "Every oil activity anywhere around the world has risks, but I believe -- after hearing all the explanations about technologic specifications and the orientations that IBAMA gave us concerning environmental licenses -- that we are working with the security and caution that are necessary in the moment and which of course are meeting the Brazilian legislation," she told reporters.
    BP engineers on Friday used undersea robots to maneuver a massive metal chamber toward the gushing well in efforts to contain a leak that threatens an environmental catastrophe on U.S. shores.
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