Global oil companies compete for pre-salt areas under a new format

Some of the largest oil companies in the world are registered to participate this Friday (16) in the auction of pre-salt areas under a new format in Brazil, after the most coveted areas have been negotiated in recent years.

A total of nine companies are registered for the competition, including giants such as Shell, Equinor, BP, Chevron, TotalEnergies and Petrobras.

All eleven oil and natural gas exploratory blocks included in the public notice for the Permanent Production Sharing Offer (OPP) received declarations of interest from companies, but which are kept confidential.

The signing bonuses for the areas of competition vary from 7 million to 511 million reais, and the minimum rate of surplus oil to the Union, from 4.88% to 22.71%.

Signing bonuses are much lower than the billionaire values ​​seen in previous pre-salt auctions, as there is an understanding that areas with greater potential have already been offered in the past. But even so, the ANP previously reported that the competition contains blocks with low exploratory risk.

This will be the first pre-salt auction in the permanent offer modality.

The blocks were included in the Permanent Production Sharing Offer system, which aims to contract, under the production sharing regime, oil and gas exploration and production activities in blocks located in the pre-salt polygon and in areas strategies, as determined by the CNPE.

In this system, blocks are permanently available to interested regulated agents. The cycles start with the provocation of the enrolled agents, by submitting a Declaration of Interest to the ANP, accompanied by a bid guarantee, for one or more available blocks.

Petrobras, based on rules provided for by law, expressed interest in being the operator of two blocks on offer — Norte de Brava and Água Marinha blocks — with a minimum 30% stake. Both blocks are the least risky of the entire event, according to an assessment made by the ANP previously.