Brazil’s National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has received 10 expressions of interest for the second round and 15 for the third round of pre-salt bidding under production sharing contracts in the upcoming 27 October auction.
The applications will be analyzed by the Special Bidding Commission in meetings to be held Wednesday (13 September), 25 September and 2 October, ANP said in a 11 September press statement.
The second round will offer four areas adjacent to fields or prospects whose reservoirs extend beyond the granted area. The areas are related to the discoveries named by Cat do Mato and Carcará, and to the fields of Green Turtle and Sapinhoá. The third round will offer four pre-salt areas located in the Campos and Santos basins, related to the prospects of Pau Brasil, Peroba, Alto de Cabo Frio-Oeste and Alto de Cabo Frio-Central.
ANP said Brazil expects to hold nine auctions between now and 2019. Investments related to these auctions is estimated at US$80 billion, resulting in 300 marine wells, plus 10 billion barrels recoverable, around US$100 billion in royalties, 17 new production units, plus 2 million barrels of oil per day, over the duration of the contracts.
The Brazilian government is seeking to improve the country’s business environment to allow more investors and companies to operate in its oil and gas sector, Brazil’s Minister of Mines and Energy Fernando Coelho Filho said during this year’s Offshore Technology Conference.
ANP has sought to improve its bidding process by eliminating local content rules as a bidding criterion in the bidding process. ANP also has introduced incentives to increase the participation of small and medium-sized companies, is offering differentiated royalties for new frontier areas and mature basins with greater risks, and has reduced the minimum net equity for investors, ANP reported in July.
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