Three million dollars is how much the National Agency of Petroleum, Gas and Biofuels (ANPG) will spend on a study aimed at locating abandoned oil blocks in the country. The expenditure was authorized by the Government and is intended to prevent the occurrence of spills, as happened in an abandoned well in Cabinda, which caused damage to the population and the environment.
In presidential decree 139-D, cited by Expansão, the Executive states that since the 1960s and 1970s there has been a well in the central area of Cabinda province where the spill took place and, with a view to preventing such an incident from happening again, it was decided to start with the study of the location of all the abandoned onshore oil blocks in Cabinda, Zaire, Kwanza Norte, Kwanza Sul and Luanda.
Knowing the conditions in which these wells are currently found, with a view to adopting norms to avoid harm to the communities that live near these abandoned wells, is the purpose of the study, writes Expansão.
In this regard, the Government gave the ‘green light’ to the disbursement of 3 million dollars, as well as formalizing the opening of a simplified emergency contract procedure for obtaining inspection services for abandoned onshore oil blocks.
According to Expansão, the national concessionaire is allowed to authorize the contract procedure documents.
According to the same newspaper, in March of this year, in a well abandoned by Chevron a few years ago, a spill took place that was eventually resolved by the authorities with the help of the company. In the area of the block live some people who, according to Expansão, citing the local press, saw their well-being at risk with this incident.
