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Oil companies planning to drill into the Amazon reef to get oil.The Brazilian government has estimated that the Foz de Amazonas, or Amazon Mouth area, could hold 15.6bn barrels of oil. A consortium of oil companies led by French giant Total, and including BP and Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, snapped up five exploration blocks in the area when they were auctioned off in 2013.

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At a depth of 80 meters, the pilot pauses to record large mounds of coral covered in rainbow-colored pygmy angelfish, wrasses and parrotfish. There are sponges 30ft long.

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The Amazon reef is located in the mouth of the Amazon river

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People around the world are signing a petition to protect the reef, and now over 1.6 million people have signed the petition.

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Brazil reject offer from the French to drill in the reef for oil.

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Brazil has rejected an application from the French oil giant Total and its collaborator BP to drill for oil near a pristine deep-water coral reef 120 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon river.

Total had applied to drill for oil at sites in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, an oil-rich marine zone close to the huge reef. The company said that the reef wouldn't be harmed as the proposed drilling sites were at least 30 kilometres away.

But Brazil's environment agency Ibama isn't convinced. "Oil dispersion modelling, for example, leaves no doubt about the potential impacts on the coral reef and marine biodiversity more broadly," the president of Ibama, Suely Araújo, said when announcing the agency's verdict on 29 August.

In a technical opinion, the agency cited unresolved issues. It refused to issue a licence until and unless the company could provide additional information through a revised application. That will be Total's last chance to win a licence.

Risk spillover

"Total Brazil is evaluating the request for technical information received from Ibama," a company spokesperson told New Scientist. "At this point, the environmental licensing process is still under way."

Ibama is also worried about political fallout from spills that contaminate neighbouring islands and countries. It highlights the need for international negotiations to manage potential risks to French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela, as well as Caribbean archipelagos.

Environmentalists are delighted by the decision. "After two years and multiple unanswered questions, Total has failed to meet the demands of the regulator," said Greenpeace Brazil's energy campaigner, Helena Spiritus, in a statement. "Ibama shouldn't give them another chance to threaten this precious ecosystem."

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Brazil rejects bid to drill for oil near unique Amazon reef

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Brazil has rejected an application from the French oil giant Total and its collaborator BP to drill for oil near a pristine deep-water coral reef 120 kilometres from the mouth of the Amazon river. Total had applied to drill for oil at sites in the Foz do Amazonas Basin, an oil-rich marine zone close to the huge reef.

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Oil companies are currently trying to drill into the reef for oil.

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The Amazon reef lies at the mouth of the Amazon river basin, along the northern coast of Brasil. The reef is 9,500 km bordering three Brazilian states. Fishes like the Alligator Gar, Apapa, Arapaima, Aruana, Bicuda, and the Jucunda live in the Amazon reef.

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Through a 20-day expedition scientists were able to capture the first-ever underwater images of the Amazon reef, located at the mouth of the Amazon River. But this reef is under threat from oil exploration. Act now to protect it: amazonreefs.org

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First ever underwater images of the Amazon reef

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First ever underwater images of the Amazon reef

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First-ever underwater images of the Amazon reef

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First underwater images of the newly-discovered Amazon reef taken from a submarine launched from the MY Esperanza. The Greenpeace ship is currently in the region of the Amazon river mouth, Amapá State, for the "Defend the Amazon Reef" campaign.

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Scientists have found energetic coral reef biological system close to the mouth of the Amazon River.

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Plans to drill for oil near the newly discovered Amazon Reef one of the largest in the world have been attacked by leading scientists, conservationists and explorers.

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We've launched a new campaign to defend the Amazon Reef, a unique and largely unknown biome that may be soon threatened by oil exploration

In the far north of Brazil, where the Amazon River meets the sea, there is a newly-discovered natural treasure - a hidden coral reef in a region where no one thought possible. Because muddy water from the Amazon River clouds the sea surface, almost no light reaches the reef making finding a reef with a complex marine life there unlikely.

But that is where the Amazon reef was found - a unique and very special discovery. And it is huge! We are talking about 9,500 square kilometers of formations including giant sponges (which are longer than 2 meters/6.5 feet) and calcareous algae, called rhodolith.
Amazon River Mouth map
The discovery of this reef was announced in April 2016 when a group of scientists published an article about it. They believe that the Amazon reef, which spans from from Brazil to the border with French Guiana, could be a new marine biome . They continue to study the reef and the new species found there.

However, this unique treasure is already under threat. The mouth of the Amazon River is the next frontier for oil exploration in Brazilian waters. Oil companies Total and BP want to start exploratory drilling in the area. One of the blocks of oil owned by Total is just eight kilometers from the reef, making drilling there risky business and the environmental licensing processes are already underway.

Drilling there means an imminent and constant risk of an oil spill. This is a threat not only to the reef, but to the ecosystem of the basin of the Amazon River mouth. This area is a crucial habitat for the American manatee, the yellow-spotted Amazon river turtle, and the giant river otter - species that are already at some risk of extinction, according to the 2014 IUCN List (International Union for Conservation of Nature).

Now, we need your help to defend the Amazon reef!

Our first task is to go see the Amazon reef and share what we find with you! - so the Esperanza is embarking will go on an expedition to see the reef underwater for the first time. The crew and marine life experts will travel to the depths of the Atlantic ocean to explore the reef up close from small submarines. Stay tuned to see what we find!

It will be an unprecedented and very important mission to ensure the protection of the reef and the Amazon River mouth and we need your help! Demand that these companies give up oil exploration in the area. And follow the Esperanza in Brazil in the coming weeks.
Thaís Herrero is a Communications Officer on board the Greenpeace Esperanza. Amazon River Mouth map

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The Amazon Reef: Brazil's newly discovered and already threatened treasure

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We've launched a new campaign to defend the Amazon Reef, a unique and largely unknown biome that may be soon threatened by oil exploration In the far north of Brazil, where the Amazon River meets the sea, there is a newly-discovered natural treasure - a hidden coral reef in a region where no one thought possible.