GIS-based modeling of the environmental vulnerability of the Amazon region to the upstream oil and gas activities

Abstract

ABSTRACT To improve the security of investors in the petroleum industry and to bestow transparency and reliability to its licensing process, the Brazilian Government has recently implemented a Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) to evaluate the potential environmental effects of oil and gas exploration and production activities before the concession of areas. To provide robustness to SEA’s analysis stage, this paper aims to propose an innovative methodological approach to map the environmental vulnerability of the area under study, considering selected environmental receptors. This approach combines two techniques, one analytical and the other spatial: environmental risk analysis and spatial analysis. To better illustrate it, this paper presents a case study of the Solimões Sedimentary Basin. Findings show that the approach was able to indicate the more suitable areas inside the SEA region for the development of the O&G upstream activities, as well as to map the vulnerability of each analyzed environmental receptor, to the complete chain of activities, from the exploration for resources until the decommissioning of facilities. This hybrid technique proved to be suitable to the levels of detail required by SEAs and may allow the Government’s goals with it to be achievable, including the environmental issues earlier, in its sectorial PPPs.