Brazil: 32 oil firms taking part in 14th bidding round next week

Brazil is organizing a bidding round in which it is set to offer 287 blocks to oil and gas companies for exploration and production of oil and natural gas in nine sedimentary basins. Of the 287 blocks to be offered on September 27, 110 will be offshore. A separate round will be held in October for the pre-salt areas.

The 14th round, organized by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), will offer areas in high potential basins, new frontiers and mature basins. Thirty-two companies will take part in the round, including BP Energy and Shell.

The bidding round will offer 110 offshore blocks, 10 of these located in the Campos basin, 7 in the offshore part of the Espírito Santo basin, 6 in the Pelotas basin, 76 in the Santos basin and 11 in the maritime part of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin. Onshore, 177 blocks will be offered, 19 in the onshore part of the Espírito Santo basin, 11 in the Paraná basin, 12 in Parnaíba, 62 in Potiguar, 27 in the Recôncavo and 46 in the terrestrial part of the Sergipe-Alagoas basin.

For the 14th Round, ANP has simplified the rules of the concession regime ,”to make them more interesting to companies and to encourage investments.”

Among the improvements, ANP said, are the adoption of the single exploration phase and the possibility of extending it due to technical reasons; the removal of local content as a basis of offer in the bidding round; distinct royalties for the new frontier areas and mature basins of greater risks; and the incentives to increase the participation of small and medium-sized companies.

Pre-salt bidding rounds in 2017

In addition to the 14th Round, with areas in the post-salt, the ANP will hold, on October 27, the 2nd and 3rd Pre-Salt Bidding Rounds. Currently, the ten most productive wells in Brazil are located in the pre-salt polygon, which is already responsible for about half of the Brazilian production.

The 2nd Pre-Salt Bidding Round will offer four areas with unitizable deposits, that is, adjacent to fields or prospects whose reservoirs extend beyond the concession area. The areas are related to the discoveries denominated Gato do Mato and Carcará, and to the fields of Tartaruga Verde and Sapinhoá.

The 3rd Pre-Salt Bidding Round will present four areas located in the Campos and Santos basins, in the pre-salt polygon, related to the prospects of Pau Brasil, Peropa, Alto de Cabo Frio-Oeste and Alto de Cabo Frio-Central.

Offshore Energy Today Staff