CEAP Amazonia – Petrobras Environmental Excellence Center in Amazonia

CEAP Amazonia (Centro de Excelência Ambiental da Petrobras na Amazônia; Petrobras Environmental Excellence Center in Amazonia) – one of the most outstanding projects by Petrobras in the north region – has a crucial strategic importance, since it will decisively contribute to the reduction of oil industry intervention-related risks in Amazonia.

CEAP Amazonia was introduced at the Amazonas Theater on July 5, 2007, with a stated premise of social-environmental self-sustainability. The initiative brings together the technological vanguard and scientific knowledge plus the commitment to social and environmental responsibility necessary for the company’s sustainable operation in the region.

CEAP Amazonia implementation has a strategic relevance, primarily for reducing oil industry intervention-related risks in Amazonia. The Center is also a management tool for Petrobras’ strategic partnerships in the region including universities, survey institutes, governmental bodies, nongovernmental organizations, and economic agents. The initiative management is undertaken by a commission comprising three Petrobras sectors: Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE); the Research and Development Center (Cenpes); and Social Responsibility Management, which integrates the Institutional Communication.

Approximately 15 projects comprise CEAP Amazonia’s portfolio, with investments above R$500 million by 2012 and more than 100 surveyors from different institutions. The idea is that the Center shall continuously contribute to the integration, cooperation, and synergy within the diverse social-environmental networks in operation in the Amazon region and with a positive impact on the networks inside and outside Petrobras.

The Center is a binder of data obtained through surveys carried out in Amazonia. The Center compiles, for example, information on safety plans and river modeling in the region, oil spillage environmental sensitivity maps, and contingency strategies. Such knowledge provides support for the exploration and production operations, fluvial transport, and refining, so that we may act safely and without environmentally impacting the region.

At CEAP Amazonia, all research projects by Petrobras are classified into thematic cores. This arrangement enables a better resource application, greater synergy among the projects, and more easily accomplished resource-raising. CEAP Amazonia consists of a multidisciplinary human, technological, knowledge, and information network to manage Petrobras’ project portfolio in Amazonia and at universities and survey institutes it partners with.

Last February, a group comprising 17 experts of ATC (Technical and Scientific advisory council to CEAP Amazonia) visited Coari municipality, located 363 km from Manaus, to improve their knowledge of the activities developed at the Coari Waterway Terminal, improve knowledge of the local communities’ habits, and list proposals for new surveys on the region to be implemented by 2011. There are 26 titles currently being voted on by the ATC commission to be further approved by the CEAP Amazonia Executive Commission.

The technical advisory council is composed of representatives of Cenpes and of the institutional communication; exploration and production; gas and power; and international areas as well as of Petrobras Distribuidora, HSE, and Transpetro.

CEAP Amazonia complements the company’s mission very well, since it combines business strategies with the commitment to social and environmental responsibility. The Center counts on a wide network of partnerships, including several Brazilian and overseas institutions. This organizational framework results in CEAP Amazonia to be considered as a benchmark in the pursuit of sustainable development in Amazonia.

CEAP Amazonia’s structured and integrated operation supports the geopolitical position of Brazil in issues concerning sovereignty and implementation of the commitments assumed by the country in the international scenario and in human development conventions. Finally, from the regional point of view, it enables the incremental scientific production and the creation of a solid infrastructure at the universities and research centers, allowing for the qualification and retention of human resources in Amazonia.