Its business-friendly government encourages international oil companies to invest here and advocates development in protected Amazon areas. “It is really bad.”But for oil companies, the lure of this basin and its estimated 15.6bn barrels of oil is powerful. Unique coral reef at risk as oil companies plan to drill near Amazon river Read moreThe state-run oil company Petrobras is producing record volumes from the vast, ultra-deep reserves found off the country’s south-east coast. “We are an oil company,” he said, speaking privately. BP technicians say computer modelling shows that in the event of a leak, oil has an 8.3% chance of reaching the coral reefs.

Source: The Guardian December 27, 2017 10:30 UTC