Nine global oil companies, including BP Energy, Shell, Chevron and TotalEnergies, are participating in an auction on Friday for exploration rights to 11 areas of oil reserves located off the Brazilian coast.
The companies Equinor, Petronas, Ecopetrol and Qatar Energy will also participate in the dispute, as well as the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, according to data released by the ANP – Brazilian National Oil and Gas Agency.
If all the blocks are purchased, the Brazilian state expects to raise 1.28 billion reais (about 228 million euros) just for the resale right.
The so-called Permanent Offer of Participation in Production, through which licenses are offered to explore the deposits in association with the Brazilian State, is the first of its kind to be carried out in pre-salt blocks, where the largest reserves of Oil and gas from the South American country.
Unlike traditional concession auctions, in which Brazil offers the highest bidder the rights to explore an area, the production sharing auction is won by the company that offers the Brazilian state the highest percentage stake in its concession.
The nine companies were approved by the ANP’s Superintendence of Tenders and by the Special Commission for Tenders (CEL) of the regulatory body, so they are authorized to present their proposals in the areas that they are interested in exploring in association with the Brazilian company. Condition.
This tender offers rights to explore for hydrocarbons in 11 different blocks in the Santos and Campos marine basins, off the coast of the Brazilian states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, respectively, with proven oil and gas reserves.
There are four blocks in the Campos basin (Água Marinha, Norte de Brava, Itaimbezinho and Turmalina) and another seven in the Santos basin (Ágata, Bumerangue, Cruzeiro do Sul, Esmeralda, Jade, Sudoeste de Sagitário and Tupinambá).
Petrobras, having discovered the pre-salt horizon, has preferential rights in the areas tendered under a distribution regime, which it has already announced that it will exercise over the Água Marinha and Norte de Brava blocks, with a minimum participation of 30%. This means that if the participating companies are interested in one of these two areas, they must include the state company in the consortium if they win the auction.
The areas of Água Marinha and Turmalina (Campos basin) and Ágata, Esmeralda, Jade and Tupinambá (Santos basin) would be offered in future auctions, but it was decided to anticipate their bidding by including them in the permanent offer. The other blocks did not receive offers in previous tenders.
The gigantic reserves of the pre-salt, a geological horizon located under a two-kilometer-thick layer of salt that began to be explored less than two decades ago, could make Brazil the fifth largest supplier of hydrocarbons in the world.
Source: Observadora
