Petrobras and Shell up their stakes in pre-salt oil projects offshore Brazil

December 5, 2025, by Melisa Cavcic

A consortium, consisting of Brazil’s state-owned energy giant Petrobras and Shell Brasil Petróleo, a subsidiary of the UK-headquartered Shell, has secured additional equity in two pre-salt oil projects in Brazilian waters following an auction led by Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA).

While announcing the results of the Non-Contracted Areas Auction, Petrobras (80%) explained that it got, in partnership with Shell (20%), the Union’s 3.500% participation in the production sharing agreement of the Mero shared reservoir, offering a final amount of BRL 7.79 billion (around $1.48 billion). With this acquisition, Petrobras increases its participation in the Mero shared reservoir from 38.60% to 41.40%.

In partnership with Shell (26.76%), the Brazilian energy giant (73.24%) also acquired the Union’s 0.950% participation in the production sharing agreement of the Atapu shared reservoir, offering a final amount of BRL 1 billion (approximately $190 million). With this acquisition, Petrobras increases its participation in the Atapu shared reservoir from 65.687% to 66.38%.

The amount to be paid by Petrobras in December 2025 is BRL 6.97 billion (about $1.32 billion) and the contracts will be signed by March 2026. Petrobras’ participation in the PPSA Non-Contracted Areas Auction is said to be aligned with the company’s long-term strategy, reaffirmed in the Business Plan 2026-30, which foresees the replacement of its oil and gas reserves with economic and environmental resilience.

Shell also confirmed the deepening of its stake in Atapu and Mero units, acquiring 26.76% of Atapu Open Acreage (0.95% of the unit) and 20% of Mero Open Acreage (3.5% of the unit). With this acquisition, the company increased its participating interest in the units from 16.663% to 16.917% in Atapu and from 19.3% to 20% in Mero in the offshore Santos Basin.

“This investment strengthens Shell’s position in areas where we have existing assets and supports the company’s aim to sustain material liquids production of 1.4 million barrels per day through 2030,” underlined the firm.

The Mero asset produces hydrocarbons using the FPSO Guanabara (Mero-1), the FPSO Sepetiba (Mero-2), the FPSO Marechal Duque de Caxias (Mero-3), and FPSO Alexandre de Gusmão (Mero 4), which came online in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, respectively.

The four FPSOs and an early production system (EPS) have a combined gross installed production capacity of 770,000 barrels of oil per day. On the other hand, production at Atapu begun in 2020 through the FPSO P-70, which has the capacity to produce 150,000 barrels of oil per day.

To support future growth, a second FPSO (P-84), with a production capacity of 225,000 barrels of oil per day, is currently under construction. The increased working interest is expected to take effect from 2027.

Peter Costello, Shell’s Upstream President, highlighted: “Today’s winning bid reinforces our disciplined approach to grow Shell’s high margin portfolio in Brazil. Our assets in Brazil are among the most competitive in our global portfolio, combining strong performance with a low carbon footprint.“