Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels agency (ANP) has announced the first 12 companies pre-approved for the country’s upcoming 13th bid round to be held on 7 October. The pre-approvals went to familiar companies such as supermajor Shell and France’s GDF Suez, Portugal’s Galp Energia, UK’s Premier Oil, Thailand’s PTTEP, and Angola’s state-owned firm Sonagol.
Also included are: Alvopetro SA Extraction of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Azibras Exploration of Oil and Gas Ltda., HRT O & G Exploration and Production of Oil Ltda., Imetame Energia Ltda., OP Energia Ltda., Parnaiba Natural Gas SA.
Notably missing from this first batch of pre-approvals is Russia’s Rosneft, which stated last week that it has submitted registration for the round.
The 13th round, held next month, will offer 266 exploration blocks, both on and offshore, in 10 sedimentary basins: the Amazon, Parnaíba, Potiguar, Reconcavo, Sergipe-Alagoas, Jacuípe, Camamu-Almada, Espírito Santo, Campos and Pelotas.
It should be interesting to see how the round turns out considering the two last two disappointing licensing rounds in North America. Last week, The US Gulf of Mexico Lease sale 246 only racked up US$22.7 million in bids. In July, Mexico's Round One managed to award only 2 of 14 contract areas.
Image: FPSO Cidade de Sao Paulo/BG Group.
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