Brazil has sold the exploration rights to 19 oil and gas blocks near the mouth of the Amazon River, just months ahead of its hosting of a major United Nations climate summit, drawing sharp criticism from environmental groups.
Two consortiums secured the rights on Tuesday, spending a total of $153 million. One group consisted of Brazil’s state-owned Petrobras and US oil giant ExxonMobil, while the other included American multinational Chevron and China’s CNPC. The blocks, located in an area highly sensitive to environmental damage, are part of a larger batch of 172 oil and gas blocks—most of them offshore—that were put up for auction. In total, 34 blocks found buyers, bringing in approximately $180 million for the Brazilian state, with planned exploration investments exceeding $260 million.
Outside the auction venue, dozens of protesters gathered under a banner reading “Stop the doomsday auctions”, voicing concern particularly over 47 blocks in the Atlantic Ocean close to the mouth of the Amazon River, which flows from the world’s largest carbon-storing tropical rainforest. The 19 blocks sold on Tuesday are part of these contested areas.
Brazil, already Latin America’s top oil and gas producer, aims to increase its daily output from 4.68 million to 5.3 million barrels by 2030. However, it has also committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent, with a goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050. ClimaInfo, a Brazilian research institute, has estimated that developing the full set of auctioned blocks could release around 11.1 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent.
Despite these concerns, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who has sought to portray himself as a global climate leader, defended the auction. In February, he argued that such oil wealth could help finance Brazil’s energy transition and fund forest conservation efforts, provided exploration was conducted responsibly and without harming the environment.
The auction proceeded even though Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry, an independent constitutional body, had called for a suspension until comprehensive studies on the environmental impact could be carried out.
Before drilling can begin, the companies will need to secure licences from the environmental regulator Ibama, a process that could take several years.
The Climate Action Tracker, which monitors national commitments to reducing emissions, has warned that Brazil is currently “not on track” to meet its climate targets and must take swift action to cut emissions to help limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Environmentalists accused Brazil of undermining its climate leadership ambitions. Suely Araujo, former Ibama president and current coordinator at the Climate Observatory NGO, lamented that the country was “missing an opportunity to lead in decarbonisation and environmental protection.” Similarly, WWF Brazil noted that existing oil reserves were sufficient to meet domestic needs while gradually shifting towards renewable energy, stressing that the climate crisis required forward-thinking policies rather than reliance on fossil fuels.
Brazil is set to host the COP30 UN climate summit in November in Belem, an Amazonian city located close to the areas affected by the auction.
