On the 17th, the government granted, in an auction with little competition, two pre-salt areas for exploration and oil processing. The sell-off brought in R$ 11 billion and is expected to generate investments of R$ 204 billion. The market sees this auction as the last major offer of pre-salt areas destined for oil exploration in the country, given that are no more relevant available areas with high oil potential on the Brazilian coast, as well as of the growing pressures to transition to the use cleaner energy sources. Only Sépia, the most expensive of the two blocks, was a target of competition. A consortium composed of Total (France), Petronas (Malaysia) and Qatar Petroleum (Qatar) outbid Petrobras. The state-led company, though, exerted its preference right and decided to join the winning consortium. The companies will pay bonuses of R$ 7 billion and have pledged to give 37.43% of the field’s oil production to Brazil, after discounting production costs. The Atapu block was purchased by a consortium formed by Petrobras, Shell (England) and Total, which will pay a R$4 billion signature bonus and pledged to return 31.68% of the production in-site production, which represents a gain of 437.86%. The group was the only one to present a proposal for the area.
Sources: Folha de S. Paulo/Datamar News