By Reuters
For the past three months, thick crude oil blobs have washed up on beaches along more than 4,400 kilometers (2,700 miles) of Brazil’s coastline, mangroves, and reefs in the worst oil spill in the country’s history. The exact date the oil first reached Brazil’s shores is unclear, but government reports point to August 30.
Thick crude oil blobs have washed up on beaches along more than 4,400 kilometers (2,700 miles) of Brazil’s coastline, mangroves, and reefs in the worst oil spill in the country’s history. (REUTERS / MANILA BULLETIN)
As of December 18, the oil had polluted more than 950 beaches, including some of the country’s most famous, such as Porto de Galinhas, in the state of Pernambuco, and Praia do Forte, in Bahia. The sludge had reached 127 municipalities and 11 states, according to the federal environmental agency Ibama. An estimate of 5,000 tonnes of oil has been removed but new areas continue to be affected.
Lab tests conducted by the Brazilian Navy indicated that the oil washing ashore shared the same properties as crude originating from Venezuela. Caracas and state oil firm PDVSA have denied any involvement in the spill.
Despite identifying the oil’s characteristics, authorities and experts were unable to identify the origin of the spill. An unproven prevailing theory is that the oil came from a botched “ship-to-ship” transfer when oil was piped between ships at sea.
Tracking the oil is especially difficult because the oil is heavy crude so dense that it does not float. Instead, it travels below the water’s surface, making it almost impossible to gauge the full scale of the spill.
“Because the oil doesn’t appear on satellite images, we can’t predict the areas it’s going to affect,” said Cristiane de Oliveira, Ibama’s environmental risk prevention and management coordinator. “This is an unprecedented incident in the world in terms of characteristics and dimension.”
In October, the engineering institute of Rio de Janeiro’s federal university Coppe conducted a study to simulate possible points of origin of the oil.
Considering factors like ocean currents and winds during the 80 days before the first clumps appeared, the study identified three areas between 300 and 600 kilometers away from the shore that could be where the oil first originated. Researchers are comparing that information with ship tracking data but have not released findings.
Recent studies conducted by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE), however, indicate that the oil would have moved from the coast of southern Africa in April to the Brazilian coast in September.
In early November, Brazilian investigators suspected Bouboulina, a Greek-flagged tanker owned by Delta Tankers, as the culprit for the spill. Delta denied responsibility, saying the vessel arrived at its destination without losing any fuel or part of the cargo.
A week later, Brazilian authorities added four more tankers to the list of suspects: Maran Tankers’ Maran Apollo and Maran Libra, Minerva Marine’s Minerva Alexandra and Euronav NV’s Cap Pembroke. All companies denied involvement with the oil spill.
The oil first reached the state of Paraiba and quickly spread to all of the states of Brazil’s northeast coast. In October, it reached the Abrolhos Archipelago, a group of five small islands off the southern coast of Bahia known for its coral reefs. In November, the oil had spread to the Southeastern states of Espirito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.
The oil has deeply affected Brazil’s fauna. So far, as of Dec. 16, a total of 159 animals have been affected, 109 of which have died. The most affected group are sea turtles, which are worse at perceiving threats and dodging obstacles than other sea animals, according to Francisco Kelmo, director of the biology institute of Bahia’s Federal University (UFBA).
Several non-profit organizations have been setting up barriers and isolating animals to avoid contamination. The TAMAR project, which protects sea turtles, has rescued more than 3,000 young sea turtles as a preventive action.
More than 100 animals have been found with traces of oil and more than 70% of them have died.
Fauna was most affected in Bahia, where authorities reported 42 dead animals. Two turtles were found dead in Sao Paulo even though oil hasn't been found on the beaches of the southeast state.
Experts say the disaster imposes long-term consequences to the environment. UFBA’s biology institute tested 50 invertebrate animals that were exposed to the oil and found traces of the substance in all of them.
The institute’s director, Francisco Kelmo, says the contamination of these animals is extremely harmful because most of them are unable to migrate to find uncontaminated food, so they are bound to die, affecting the entire food chain.
“We do not expect a recovery in the balance of this ecosystem in less than 10 to 12 years,” Kelmo said, adding that the situation is aggravated because the oil appeared around the time when animals mate. “The damage and consequences for the coastal area and for people who depend on fishing are very serious.”
According to government records, although the first oil clumps reported were detected in late August, the country’s environment minister only attended the first meeting on the case on Oct. 7, more than a month later. President Jair Bolsonaro’s government has come under intense criticism for weakening environmental protection policies after a destructive season of fires in the Amazon.
Activists worry that the government’s efforts are not enough to tackle the crisis. The government activated the plan of emergency on Oct. 11, 43 days after oil was first detected on Brazil’s shores. By then, more than 150 areas and all of Brazil’s northeast states had been affected by the oil.
“The government underestimated the extent of this disaster. They were slow to take action” said Kelmo. “The feeling we had was of abandonment.”
The government did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
To Luiz Assad, professor at the research institute Coppe, authorities and experts failed to act quickly because of a lack of planning. “We were not prepared for this. The scientific community acted reactively rather than proactively as it should be.”
Academic research institutes in Brazil are now coming together to develop a monitoring system of the Brazilian coast to allow for early detection of future incidents.
Assad believes that Brazil will see an end to the crisis soon, but warns that the country needs to be better prepared for future oil spills. “We haven’t been observing big new oil globs in the northeast,” said Assad. “It looks like we are close to the end, but with very important lessons to be learned.”