The public session of the 3rd Cycle of Permanent Offer of oil and natural gas exploration and production blocks, held today (13) by the National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), ended with 59 blocks auctioned in six basins and totaled R$ 422 million in signing bonuses, which represents an average premium of 854% in relation to the minimum bids required by the auction.
The blocks were contracted by 13 companies, which are expected to invest R$406 million in exploration activities in the coming years.
At the end of the auction, the Minister of Mines and Energy, Bento Albuquerque, highlighted that the auction was the eighth in three years, and considered the period successful. “The result of all these auctions means investments of more than BRL 620 billion, and government revenue in excess of BRL 1 trillion over 30 years, with the expectation of creating more than 500,000 jobs,” he said.
Regarding the offers received today, the minister highlighted the presence of Brazilian companies in the auction. “We can highlight the interest of several companies that started and consolidated their operations in Brazil, acquiring mature fields from Petrobras through the divestment process,” he said. “I am happy to see the number of national companies participating in this event, something that should be proud of all those who develop public policies in this country.”
In today’s public session, companies could bid for 14 sectors of exploratory blocks located in seven basins: Santos, Pelotas, Espírito Santo, Recôncavo, Potiguar, Sergipe-Alagoas and Tucano. The Permanent Offer includes fields returned or in the process of being returned, blocks not awarded in previous auctions and new exploratory blocks in onshore basins under study by the ANP.
Opening the session, the director-general of the ANP, Rodolfo Saboia, highlighted that the recent rise in oil prices, related to the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, reminds us of the importance of energy security, in a context of replacing fossil energies with renewable energies. .
“The energy transition needs to be done in a balanced way. It is undoubtedly necessary to increase investment in renewable energies, to guarantee the expansion of the supply of clean fuels, but, at the same time, it is essential to continue meeting the demand for hydrocarbons in a sustainable and efficient way, until the new solutions are capable of can replace it”, said Saboia. “Especially in Brazil, we still have a lot of wealth to be generated by the oil and natural gas industry for the benefit of society”.
winning companies
The offshore blocks in the Santos Basin were the first to receive offers in the public session. There was a dispute between the company Total Energies, which won two blocks, and the consortium formed by Shell Brasil (70%) and Ecopetrol (30%), which won the dispute in five blocks and made the only offer for the sixth block it won.
In all, the signature bonus that will be paid by the blocks in the sector totaled R$ 415.5 million, which represents a premium of 895.99% over the minimum offer required. The bids should also generate R$ 307 million in investments and provide for a minimum exploratory program of 1,300 work units.
The Pelotas Basin was second in the order of submissions, and no company bid for its offshore blocks. In the Espírito Santo Basin, the third of the day, two onshore blocks from different sectors received unique offers. One was won by CE Engenharia and the other by the consortium formed between Imetame (30%), Seacrest (50%) ENP Ecossistemas (20%). The signature bonus that will be paid for the two blocks amounts to R$355,000, and the planned investment in exploration is around R$2 million.
The fourth basin of the public session was the Recôncavo, which had four blocks sold in three different sectors. Petroborn won the dispute for one of the blocks and made a single offer for the second that it won. The other two blocks had the participation of NTF, which bought one alone and the other in a 50% consortium with Newo. Signature bonuses totaled around R$1.1 million and planned investments totaled around R$14.4 million.
In the Alagoas Basin, the company Origin won 11 blocks in the first sector offered and three more in the second. The total signing bonus was around BRL 1 million and the planned investment is nearly BRL 8 million, with 2,300 work units in the minimum exploratory program.
The Potiguar Basin had most of its blocks acquired by the company Petro-Victory, which obtained the concession of 19 blocks in three different sectors. 3R Petroleum made proposals for blocks in two sectors and managed to win six of them. The signature bonus totaled around R$2 million, and the estimated investment in the auctioned blocks is R$39 million.
The last basin to receive offers was Tucano, located in Bahia. The company Origin won four blocks, and the consortium formed by Imetame (30%) and ENP Ecossistemas (70%) took another two. The signing bonus amounted to R$ 2.5 million, and the planned investments are R$ 24.2 million.
past offers
The bidding model for the blocks offered in the 3rd Cycle is the concession model, which applies to bids that do not include the pre-salt polygon. The two previous cycles of the permanent offer, also carried out only under the concession regime, took place in 2019 and 2020. In the first cycle, in September 2019, 33 blocks and 12 areas with marginal accumulations were acquired. In the second, in December 2020, 17 exploratory blocks were acquired.
Since the end of last year, the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) established Resolution No. 27/2021, which allows pre-salt blocks and strategic areas to be included in the permanent offer, under a sharing regime.
Based on this, the public notice and contract models for the Permanent Production Sharing Offer (OPP) are in the process of being prepared. The auction does not yet have a date to be held, but at the opening of the public session held today, the director general of the ANP predicted that it could take place later this year.
