The environmental accident which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico in April became an opportunity for political mobilization in Brazil aiming to avoid a similar incident in the country. Last week, at the House of Representatives, in Brasília, members of the Parliament, representatives of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) and of the oil production sector discussed the conditions and advances in Brazil to control this type of environmental disaster.
According to Sérgia de Oliveira, from the MMA, environmental accidents "always bring lessons". She said new techniques that include risk and emergency measures in oil extraction activities are under discussion. "We are enhancing our institutional and legal framework to deal better with this kind of problem."
Sérgia said that, in order to promote research and capacity to mitigate the impact of a similar situation in Brazilian territory, IBAMA's technicians were sent to Mexico to monitor the procedures adopted by BP (British Petroleum), and to help identify details, reasons and solutions for the accident.
José Carlos Laurindo, Manager for Exploration and Production at Petrobras, said that the equipment used by the company in the oil drilling is one of the most modern in the world. "In these kinds of incidents, there are contingency plans for fire, oil spill and rescue, among other emergency measures. In the specific case of oil spills, each unit (oil platform) has an emergency plan, which is always presented to IBAMA in the environmental licensing process", he says.
Laurindo also said Petrobras has 27 vessels for the control of any accidents involving the leaking of oil, plus a set of barriers that have the capacity to contain the spill within a radius of 6.5 km. He added that Brazil has chemical dispersants enough to be used in mitigation actions if there is any accident in Brazil.
Redes Sociais