Sawt Falasteen - Brazil sells exploration rights to oil blocks near Amazon river mouth

Two consortiums -- one comprising Brazil's state-owned Petrobras and US giant ExxonMobil, the other US multinational Chevron and China's CNPC -- spent $153 million on the rights to 19 of 47 deepwater blocks on offer in an area considered vulnerable to environmental harm.

They are among 172 oil blocks, most of them offshore, placed on auction Tuesday, with some 30 companies registered to take part.

Shortly after opening, rights to the first 19 blocks were snatched up as dozens of protesters gathered outside under a banner reading: "Stop the doomsday auctions."

Green groups have expressed particular concern over the 47 Atlantic exploration blocks in an area near the mouth of the Amazon River that flows through the world's largest carbon-capturing tropical rainforest.

If exploited, the 172 blocks would emit some 11.1 billion tons of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere, according to Brazil's ClimaInfo research institute -- undermining the country's target to become a net zero emitter of planet-warming greenhouse gases.

Already Latin America's biggest oil and gas producer, Brazil is seeking to increase production from 4.68 million to 5.3 million barrels per day by 2030.

Under the 2015 Paris climate agreements, Brazil has pledged to reduce its emissions to 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent by 2030, and to reach neutrality by 2050 -- meaning emissions do not exceed the amount captured, by forests for example.

- 'Cannot ignore it' -

Leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, seeking to position himself as a leader in the fight against climate change, nevertheless supports the auction.

"If this wealth exists, we cannot ignore it, as it will help us to make the energy transition and secure funds to preserve our forests," he declared in February.

"We must act responsibly. I do not want oil exploration to cause any harm to the environment," he added.

The Climate Action Tracker, which measures governments' actions, has said Brazil "is not on track to reach either its 2025 target or its 2030" and the country "needs to peak and rapidly decrease emissions" to achieve its contribution to the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit).

"Opening new frontiers for exploration in fragile ecosystems increases the risk of environmental disasters and heightens threats to... marine biodiversity," Greenpeace Brazil's Mariana Andrade told AFP.

The auction went ahead despite Brazil's Federal Public Ministry, an independent rights-monitoring body set up under the Brazilian constitution, calling for it to be suspended pending "adequate studies" on the potential impact of exploration.

Petrobras is awaiting a license from environment oversight body Ibama to begin a mega oil exploration project for which it obtained a concession in 2013 in the same area.

Brazil will host the COP30 UN climate conference in November in the Amazonian city of Belem.

"Brazil is missing an opportunity to be a leader in decarbonization and environmental protection," said Suely Araujo, a former president of Ibama and coordinator of the Climate Observatory NGO.

"The government clearly expresses its intent to increase oil production," she said in a statement.

N.Shalabi--SF-PST