Brazil’s Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás Natural e Biocombustíveis (ANP) announced that all 11 blocks available through its permanent sharing offer have received interest.
Nine companies are qualified to bid for the blocks. Equinor Brasil Energia Ltda was recently approved as a bidder. The other eight companies are Petrobras; Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda; Chevron Brasil Óleo e Gás Ltda; BP Energy do Brasil Ltda.; Ecopetrol Oil and Gas do Brasil Ltda.; Petronas do Brasil Ltda.; Qatar Energy Brasil Ltda.; and Total Energy EP Brazil Ltd.
According to the ANP, the available blocks are in basins with high potential for discoveries for oil and natural gas.
Of the 11 blocks on offer, Água Marinha and Turmalina in the Campos Basin and Ágata, Esmeralda, Jade and Tupinambá, in the Santos Basin, were expected to be offered in the 7th and 8th production sharing rounds.
The others did not receive offers in production sharing bidding rounds previously carried out by the ANP: Itaimbezinho (4th Sharing Round, Campos Basin), Norte de Brava (6th Sharing Round, Campos Basin), Bumerangue, Cruzeiro do Sul and Southwest Sagittarius (6th Sharing Round, Santos Basin).
The blocks are now scheduled to be offered in the 1st Cycle of the offering on Dec. 16.
Qualified companies have through Nov. 8 to submit declarations of interest and guarantees of additional offers for blocks other than those for which they had already declared interest.
In February, Petrobras exercised its preemptive right in blocks to be tendered, for 30% of the Água Marinha and Norte de Brava blocks.