Brazilian government evaluates holding a traditional bidding round with pre-salt areas

(PN) Even with the Permanent Offer assuming the role of the main modality of bidding for oil and gas areas in the country, the government seems not to have given up on holding at least one more traditional round with pre-salt areas. This week, the board of the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) approved the geological and economic studies on the indication of four blocks for inclusion, in the future, in a bidding round. Block names were not revealed.

Of the four blocks chosen, one is in the Santos Basin and the other three are located in the Campos Basin, all in the pre-salt Polygon. The studies will now go on to be analyzed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), which will propose to the National Council for Energy Policy (CNPE) the definition of the blocks that will be subject to concession or production sharing, as well as the supply and parameters to be adopted for each of them.

The ANP also approved the inclusion of 218 blocks from the Equatorial Margin in the Permanent Offer system, under the concession regime. The added blocks are located in the Foz do Amazonas, Pará-Maranhão, Barreirinhas, Ceará and Potiguar basins, in deep and ultra-deep water marine environments.

Meanwhile, the government is also preparing to carry out the first cycle of the Permanent Sharing Offer, with pre-salt blocks. The auction is scheduled for December 16th. So far, eight companies have had their entries approved by the ANP: BP Energy; Chevron; CNODC; CNOOC; Petrobras; Petronas; Shell and TotalEnergies.