Brazilian oil major Petrobras has decided to file an appeal against environmental agency Ibama’s decision not allow the drilling of a wildcat well off the mouth of the Amazon river.

The state-controlled company said it is ready to meet additional requirements from Ibama but claims to have so far fulfilled all “technical needs" for the project to be approved.

Petrobras exploration and production director Joelson Mendes told Upstream two weeks ago that a negative decision would compel the operator to mobilise the semi-submersible rig that it has chartered for the operation to a different basin and he said the company had waited “long enough”.