Representatives of the national industry charged on Thursday, 22, in a public hearing of the National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP), that the announcements of the 4th Round of Production Sharing Bid and the 15th Round of Bidding for Concessions include more local content than in the rounds held last year.
They require the government to adopt the percentages approved under the Petroleum and Natural Gas Suppliers Development and Competitiveness Improvement Program (Pedefor), which stipulate 40% of global local content against 25% used in the last auctions.
According to the representative of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) at the public hearing of the ANP, project manager Adriano Sousa, it is possible that changes are made to the notice, scheduled to be published on March 29, as the National Council (CNPE) will hold an extraordinary meeting in March to possibly approve the auction of the onerous assignment surplus, an area granted by the government to Petrobras in 2010 in indirect exchange for shares of the company. “It is possible (change in the edict), but it depends on Pedefor sending it to CNPE, but it is possible. It will have an extraordinary meeting in March,” Sousa said after the public hearing.
According to the director of ANP Dirceu Amorelli, all the suits proposed at the public hearing will be analyzed and, in the case of the share auctions, any suggestion of alteration in the bidding must first be approved by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
“The 4th Round has already been defined by the CNPE, but the public hearing is precisely for there to be a demonstration and all the lawsuits are analyzed,” said Amorelli, who said there was considerable interest in the blocks of the 4th Round of Production Sharing.
The ANP has already been in Canada and the United States announcing the sale of five blocks in the pre-salt polygon in the Santos and Campos basins and intends to further boost interest in the sector’s largest OTC fair scheduled for April. “We did the road show in the US and Canada and the receptivity is very positive, we will have chances of getting it on the OTC too,” he explained.
Present at the public hearing, representatives from the machinery and equipment industry and the shipbuilding industry complained about the low local content required at the auctions, which contrasts with the government’s discourse to stimulate local industry.
For Mauricio Bastos de Almeida, of the Enseada Indústria Naval, the fact that the pre-edital of the 4th Round still considers 25% of the local content is a step back, since in the scope of Pedefor has already been agreed the index of 40%.
He reports that the local content requirement of around 25% would provide orders worth about $ 12 billion for the local industry. “We are discussing 40% local content and so it amazes me that the 4th round comes with 25% new,” he said in his statement at the hearing.
Source: Ports and Ships
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