A public consultation to update the rules dealing with ship transfer activities to another has worried experts for not providing explicit prohibition on which they are held in the and Pelotas basins.
These operations, called “Ship-to-Ship (STS)”, can be performed with the ship in a moved or moving ship, with high seas vessels.
To update the rule, Ibama submitted the text to an appointment in December, with expected to end this Friday (31). The deadline, however, was extended until March 17 after requests from actors in the area, such as port terminal associations.
The current standard brings a specific chapter for restriction areas, where STS activities can be authorized by IBAMA by technical justification. There are some explicit prohibitions, including performing operations in the Foz do Amazonas and Pelotas basins.
The seal, however, is not included in the update proposal submitted to public consultation. Experts claim that veto is necessary because of the risks of oil transfer at high seas, such as leaks and the possibility of oil to reach the coast because of the absence of containment barriers.
One of the suspicions involving one is that it was caused by a transfer of clandestine oil.
President of ABTL (Brazilian Association of Liquid Terminals), which brings together 23 terminals across the country, Carlos Kopittke states that both Foz do Amazonas and Pelotas Basin are extremely sensitive areas.
“Our concern is with safety, both environmental and operational, because Brazil has a difficulty in controlling these types of operations that are proliferating on the high seas,” he says.
According to him, in port terminals there are a number of calculations that would not be done in moving ships, such as the displacement of a possible leak because of the sea currents and the monitoring of practical on board the vessels.
Sought, Ibama denied having taken the basins from Foz do Amazonas and Pelotas from the list of forbidden areas. “What is happening is a process of updating the standard that regulates the issuance of STS Operation Authorization, so that the proposal is in the public consultation phase,” says the agency.
According to the agency, the 2013 normative instruction was the first regulation of the type issued by Ibama, and it was replicated the same restrictions adopted by environmental licensing for oil exploration activity.
“In this sense, we clarify that, in the proposal to update the normative, the prohibition of Ship-to-Ship operations in the areas of Pelotas and Foz do Amazonas is not foreseen,” he says. “On the other hand, the proposal provides for the prohibition of this type of activity in other areas of great biological interest.”
Asked if the lack of ban would bring risks to both basins, Ibama stated that the eventual withdrawal of the two areas of prohibited areas “does not automatically authorize the operation of the Ship-to-Ship Operation Activity”.
“For the issuance of authorization to perform this type of activity, Ibama analyzes and takes into account the specific risks of requests in each case,” says the agency.
“Despite the existence of risks in the STS activity, it is understood that they are not the same as the oil production activity, which demands a licensing process for its realization. Inherent accidents, however, are not prohibited activities in these same areas. “
Ibama says that today it is necessary to delimit an area by the Brazilian Navy to perform STS operations. “There are currently three authorized areas: off the coast of the states of São Paulo, Espírito Santo and Bahia.”
“Moreover, it must be remembered that the issuance of authorization is a discretionary act, that is, even if the request meets all the requirements of the standard, it is up to the Government to evaluate the convenience of issuing the authorization.”
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