FILE - Magda Chambriard, the new president of the state-run oil company Petrobras, attends her inauguration ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)
FILE - Fuel reservoirs sit at a distribution center for state-run oil company Petrobras, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
FILE - Magda Chambriard, the new president of the state-run oil company Petrobras, attends her inauguration ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado, File)
BP
FILE - Fuel reservoirs sit at a distribution center for state-run oil company Petrobras, in Brasilia, Brazil, May 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, File)
SAO PAULO (AP) — The head of Brazil's state-run gas and oil giant Petrobras was facing criticism on Friday after a video emerged of her saying “Drill, baby, drill!†when speaking about controversial oil exploration near the mouth of the Amazon River.
“We do believe we will have very good surprises once we have the (environmental) license to drill. So what one wants to say to Amapa is, ‘Let’s drill, baby, drill!’" Her comments prompted a round of applause, including from LuÃs.
Petrobras did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. The company confirmed the authenticity of the video, according to Valor Economico.
U.S. President Donald Trump has long used the phrase “Drill, baby, drill!†in expressing support for increased oil exploration and production.
“The ‘let’s drill, baby’ rhetoric may comfort industry leaders and short-sighted policymakers, but history will remember them as the ones who buried the 1.5 C goal," said Natalie Unterstell, president of Talanoa, a climate policy think tank, referring to the internationally adopted aim to keep warming under 1.5 C since pre-industrial times.
Climate change is caused by the release of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. Oil, from exploration to its various uses, is a central driver of climate change.
Chambriard was appointed by Brazil's leftist President , whose environmental record in the Amazon is mixed. While he has curbed deforestation and championed the the host of the U.N.'s COP30 climate summit in November, he also push to drill for offshore oil at the ecologically sensitive mouth of the Amazon River and other big projects that bring environmental impact to the world´s largest tropical forest.
Exploratory offshore drilling near the Amazon, whose reserves are unknown, is expected to draw scrutiny during the COP30 summit. A central push of the annual climate talks has been to reduce the use of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal.
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