Lula says the Equatorial Margin could be a solution if Ormuz closes

The president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) stated, this Monday (17th August), that the Brazilian Equatorial Margin can supply the world with oil if the Strait of Hormuz be closed in a conflict involving the United States and Iran. The statement was made in a video shown in the presence of the PT member, the aboard a drillship and Petrobras which operates in Amapá.

The visit takes place 3 days after Petrobras announce the identification of hydrocarbons in an exploratory well located in the Equatorial Margin sedimentary basin. Oil and gas are mainly composed of hydrocarbons. On Sunday (16 August), the president of the state-owned company, Magda Chambriard, confirmed the discovery of oil.

In the video, Lula stated: “If the president [Donald] Trump [dos Estados Unidos] If you want to wage war with Iran and close the Strait of Hormuz, we will open it here to the entire world, the Equatorial Margin.”

The Strait of Hormuz is a 33 km wide sea route in the Middle East, targeted by US and Iranian blockade during the conflict. Blocking the section affects transport of more than 14 million barrels of oil per day.

During his speech, the president ended his speech by reinforcing the strategic nature of the discovery: “This means national sovereignty. A country that has oil of this quality here will not allow anyone to put their finger on it.”

Watch the ceremony (28min40s):

Equatorial Margin

The Brazilian Equatorial Margin is an extensive strip of the country’s northern coast that covers maritime areas located off the states of Amapá, Pará, Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte.

This region is considered a new exploratory frontier for the oil and gas sector, with potential that is still little known, but which is attracting interest due to geological characteristics similar to those of major discoveries in other parts of the world, such as off the coast of Guyana and Suriname.

Petrobras’ operations in the region are part of the energy company’s strategy to rebuild its gas and oil reserves. The objective is to meet national energy demand during the country’s energy transition.

As shown by the Poder360the federal government projects that Brazil will have to become an oil importer from 2040 onwards if it does not advance on new exploration fronts for the commodity.

According to the president of Petrobras, Magda Chambriard, the discovery does not yet mean that there will be economic exploration in the Equatorial Margin, but it has already been confirmed that the material found by the state-owned company is, in fact, oil. The company needs to finish drilling the Morpho well to confirm the amount of material available at the site.