The tool launched by the Arayara Institute, the Climate Observatory and partners indicates which blocks are in operation, and those under study, on offer or granted for exploration in the region

The Brazilian Amazon currently has 451 oil blocks that are under study, on offer or already granted. This represents around 20% of the total of the 2,239 blocks throughout Brazil, as disclosed by a recent monitoring carried out by the Arayara International Institute, with support from the Climate Observatory, the Clean Energy Coalition, the Brazilian Non-Fracking Coalition for Water, Climate and Life – COESUS, the National Front for Energy Consumers, and the Oil and Gas Observatory, among others. These numbers include land and sea areas, covering part of the Equatorial Margin. More information can be found here.

“The collected knowledge was spread across platforms, such as the georeferenced databases of governments and specialized websites. The disconnection of the information made the analyses of the context and risk of the oil and gas exploration difficult. The initiative is pioneering in formulating comparisons of the forest and coastal areas of the so-called Pan-Amazon region. The updates will be periodical,” states the launch text. With the monitor, it is possible to generate maps and spreadsheets, quickly cross-checking data about the country, company and exploratory phase, as well as information about the locations — indigenous land, quilombola territory and coral region, etc.

Most of these blocks in the Amazon, 307 in total, are in the potential analysis stage, with 81% located at sea, in the basins of the Foz do Amazonas and Pará-Maranhão, and 19% on land, in the Legal Amazon region. On the other hand, when looking at the blocks already under contract, whether in the exploration or production phase, the Amazon has 52, compared to a total of 278 in the country.