Eneva withdraws from three natural gas blocks that had encroached on Krenyê indigenous land and Quilombola territories in Maranhão, Brazil
Eneva has relinquished three gas exploration blocks in Maranhão’s Parnaíba Basin after failing to prove the projects’ viability. Linked to the Parnaíba Thermal Power Complex, blocks PN-T-117, PN-T-118, and PN-T-119 overlap with and impact protected territories in the Legal Amazon.
Eneva formally filed its decision on May 12 with the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). In the filing, the company announced the permanent end of exploration activities and the full return of its concessions.
The withdrawal followed a January report by InfoAmazonia revealing that Eneva’s blocks overlapped with Indigenous and quilombola territories in Maranhão. Block PN-T-117 covered approximately 75 percent of the Krenyê people’s territory, PN-T-119 completely overlapped the Peixes quilombola territory, and PN-T-118 sat between the two protected areas.
In February, shortly after the report’s publication, the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) in Maranhão launched an investigation into Eneva’s natural gas exploration in Block PN-T-117, which overlaps with Krenyê territory. This marked the only active fossil fuel exploration block (oil or natural gas) overlapping with a recognized Indigenous territory in the entire Legal Amazon.
Eneva cited a lack of ‘exploration potential’
In documents submitted to the ANP, Eneva said an analysis of seismic data results indicated “the absence of structures with exploration potential,” prompting its decision “not to continue exploration activities and to return the block areas in full to the ANP.”
The company drilled no wells and installed no permanent structures at Block PN-T-117, conducting only 2D seismic acquisition activities, it officially stated. The areas used for the seismic surveys underwent environmental restoration between 2022 and 2023, the company reported.
