A drilling platform financed through German export credit assurances has facilitated seven new gas wells in the Brazilian Amazon, according to recent analysis.

The study, issued on Tuesday by the international group Oil Change International, examines a guarantee granted in February 2024 by Euler Hermes, Germany’s export credit agency.

It supported the sale of a deep drilling platform by German manufacturer Herrenknecht to Brazilian energy company Eneva.

The transaction drew notice because it was cleared months after Germany’s revised export credit climate guidelines, intended to limit fossil fuel backing, took effect on 1 November 2023.

Berlin approved the arrangement on the grounds that the platform would replace older equipment at current production sites.

Official records referenced in the study state the project would not expand production capacity or extend the operational life of the gas field.

Yet the group maintains this was not the case. The platform, called Eneva Explorer, arrived from Germany in April 2025 and began work in the Parnaiba Basin in Maranhao state that July.

Over the next six months it completed seven new wells. In January Eneva reported gas deposits estimated at 2.2 to 4 billion cubic metres.

Eneva already leads onshore exploration across Brazil’s Legal Amazon, the official zone covering the Amazon biome and nearby states.

In replies to Euler Hermes the company stated it had faced no complaints about its exploration and production work in its history.

However a 2022 peer-reviewed study in Revista de Politicas Publicas connected Eneva’s gas and coal plants in Maranhao to displacement, pollution and food insecurity.

Brazilian outlet ClimaInfo reported that Eneva faces legal challenges over fossil gas projects in Amazonas, where federal prosecutors claim it failed to consult Indigenous communities.

By supporting Eneva’s gas extraction Germany is breaking a commitment, the group says. The pledge was made in 2021 upon joining the Clean Energy Transition Partnership, a coalition of nations vowing to end overseas fossil fuel financing.

After the pledge Germany introduced climate rules for export financing in 2023 to restrict fossil fuel support and align with the Paris Agreement’s 1.5C limit.

Loopholes remained, however, still allowing funding for gas plants and infrastructure labelled hydrogen-ready or fitted with carbon capture.

Exceptions were also retained for gas projects viewed as serving Germany’s geostrategic interests and supply security.

Legal obligation

Officially Germany states it is meeting its duty to keep global warming below 1.5C in line with the Paris Agreement.

In May it backed a UN resolution urging states to meet their legal climate obligations.

Germany’s export credit rules require that coverage for projects not aligned with the 1.5C pathway be restricted.

Yet the group says Germany’s current support level raises serious concerns about compliance with international law and the 1.5C goal.

By its count Germany approved 1.5 billion dollars in fossil fuel projects in 2023 and 2024, ranking as the second-largest violator among signatories after Italy.

Katharina Rall, research manager at the group, said weakening the rules and increasing gas import reliance would leave Germany less secure, less competitive and less credible globally.

The campaigners call on Berlin to close all gas loopholes and assess every export deal against the 1.5C limit going forward.

Yet signs indicate the current conservative-led government is moving the other way. The coalition agreement signed by the CDU, CSU and SPD last year promised to make the guidelines more flexible.

The economy ministry is now rewriting the rules, with a draft expected for industry consultation soon.

The German ministry for economic affairs and energy did not respond to questions before publication.