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    Chevron-led Group Bags Blocks off Brazil

Summary

Brazil has offered 36 blocks in its latest licensing round.

by: Joseph Murphy

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Natural Gas & LNG News, Americas, Premium, Corporate, Exploration & Production, Investments, Political, Licensing rounds, News By Country, Brazil

Chevron-led Group Bags Blocks off Brazil

US major Chevron, Germany’s Wintershall Dea and Spain’s Repsol have together secured two oil and gas blocks in the South Atlantic in Brazil’s 16th bidding round.

The S-M-766 and C-M-845 blocks containing pre-salt targets lie in the Santos and Campos basins respectively, Wintershall Dea said in a statement on October 10. Chevron will serve as operator.

Wintershall Dea, which will take a 20% stake in the acreage, noted their location 150 km southeast from the Libra pre-salt oil discovery. They also lie adjacent to blocks S-M-764, C-M-821 and C-M-823, where the German company is already partnered with Chevron and Repsol.

The blocks “are a strong complement to our exploration portfolio, giving us further access to a maturing and emerging basin,” Wintershall Dea’s managing director in Brazil, Valerie Bosse, commented.

The awards bring Wintershall’s total number of licences off Brazil to nine, four of which it operates.

Brazil’s latest bidding round offered up rights to 36 blocks in the Pernambuco-Paraiba, Jacuipe, Camamu-Almada, Campos and Santos basins, covering a total of 29,300 km2. France’s Total, banding together with Qatar Petroleum and Malaysia’s Petronas, reported winning the C-M-541 block in the Campos basin on October 10. The following day Petronas also confirmed winning 100% interests in blocks C-M-661 and C-M-715, also in Campos.