Brazil plans to hold an additional oil auction this year for uncontracted areas in the pre-salt offshore region after Senate approval of legislation that clears the way for the sale, a senior energy official said on Wednesday.
The government aims to boost revenue to meet this year's fiscal targets after Congress overturned a presidential decree to increase financial transaction tax on certain operations, cutting an estimated 12 billion reais ($2.2 billion) from projected revenue this year.
State-run oil company PPSA will hold the oil auction this year, said Pietro Mendes, secretary for Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, in a social media post. Mendes also chairs the board of state-run oil company Petrobras.
PPSA is responsible for selling the portion of oil that companies producing under sharing contracts in pre-salt oilfields must hand over to the government under Brazilian law.
Government sources had previously estimated the auction could raise between 15 billion and 20 billion reais.
The measure gained Senate approval on Tuesday, having already been passed by the lower house, and now awaits presidential sanction.
Treasury Secretary Rogerio Ceron had indicated that, with full congressional backing, gains from the auction could be included in the government's next bimonthly revenue and expenditure report, due by July 22.
($1 = 5.4269 reais)
(Reuters - Reporting by Marcela Ayres; Editing by David Goodman)