Brazil Announces 4th Round Winners

Brazil's upstream regulator ANP said its 4th round of pre-salt offshore production sharing licences raised reais 3.15bn ($810mn) in signature bonuses, plus reais 738mn investments in the exploration phase.

Three of the four blocks offered were auctioned off - Uirapuru, Dois Irmaos and Tres Marias - said ANP.

In the bids under the production sharing regime, winning companies are those that offer the Brazilian state, from a minimum percentage set in the bid, the largest portion of oil and natural gas produced (that is the largest portion of surplus in oil). Signature bonuses were fixed. Petrobras exercised its pre-emptive right to become operator of the three blocks sold.

Equinor (formerly Statoil) said it, together with ExxonMobil and Portugal's Galp presented the winning bid (75.49% profit oil) for the Uirapuru production sharing contract in the Santos basin.  The final equity distribution is thus Petrobras (30% operator), Equinor and ExxonMobil (each 28%) and Galp (14%). The pre-determined signature bonus to be paid by the consortium is reais 2.65bn (about $682mn). Uirapuru is to the  north of the BM-S-8 (Carcará discovery) and North Carcará blocks - both Equinor-operated.

A separate consortium comprising Equinor (25%), Petrobras (45%, operator) and BP (30%) were the high bidders (16.43% profit oil) for the Dois Irmaos producing sharing contract in the Campos basin, for which the pre-determined signature bonus is reais 400mn ($103mn). Dois Irmãos block sits adjacent to an area where Equinor with partners were awarded four blocks in the 15th round in March.

The third block, Tres Marias, in the Santos basin, was awarded to Chevron and Shell, again with Petrobras exercising its right to operate, with a winning consortium bid of reais 100mn ($25mn). The winners offered 49.95% of profit oil.