Petrobras has confirmed an oil discovery at the Morpho exploration well in ultra-deep water block FZA-M-59, about 175 km off Amapá in Brazil’s Foz do Amazonas basin, after drilling that began in October 2025 at roughly $1 million per day. The company has already spent $300 million on the well, about half on environmental protection measures, and plans a wider Equatorial Margin campaign with three further wells in this block and six elsewhere, pending IBAMA licences. Environmental and Indigenous groups have launched legal challenges over spill risk, climate impacts and lack of community consultation, creating significant permitting and ESG uncertainty for future offshore development.

The Environment Agency has approved a variation to Drax Power Limited’s environmental permit, allowing post-combustion carbon capture to be added to its biomass-fired generating units at the Selby bioenergy plant in North Yorkshire. The decision enables integration of large-scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) infrastructure with existing flue gas treatment systems, including new absorber columns, solvent regeneration equipment and CO₂ compression and export facilities. Civil and geotechnical works will need to accommodate additional foundations, pipe racks and tie-ins within a live, high-load power station site.

New Environment Agency classifications under the Water Environment (Water Framework Directive) Regulations show only 14.3% of England’s surface water bodies achieve “Good ecological status” against retained EU standards. The results cover rivers, lakes, estuaries and coastal waters, and are based on biological, chemical and hydromorphological quality elements defined in the Directive. For civil and water engineers, the figures signal continued regulatory pressure on combined sewer overflows, wastewater treatment works and diffuse pollution controls in drainage and catchment management schemes.