Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum (ANP) held the 13th Bidding Round for exploratory blocks yesterday (7 October) that almost mirrored Mexico’s Round One, in that the ANP was only able to sell 37 out of the 266 blocks offered.
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Brazil's 13th round. Image from ANP. |
The 13th round only brought in a little more than US$89 million ($121 million BRL) out of a total of $256 million ($979 million BRL) in minimum required bids on all blocks, representing only 12%.
A total of 17 international companies from seven countries including Canada, France, Argentina, Bermuda, Panama, China, and Brazil were sold blocks. The blocks sold were in nine sectors, divided into four sedimentary basins: Parnaíba, Potiguar, Sergipe-Alagoas and Reconcavo.
The biggest sale at $16.7 million ($63,860,099.99 BRL) went to Brazil’s Queiroz Galvão for Block SSEAL-M-351, who will be the operator with 100% stake.
Brazil state-run company, Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) was absent from the 13th round, which may have had something to do with the outcome.
It’s too early to say what went wrong at Wednesday's oil auction. Petrobras had been a driver of past auctions and its absence may have kept others away, Magda Chambriard, ANP general director told Reuters.
It was expected for foreign companies to bid in deepwater areas but they stayed away, she said.
There were 266 blocks, both offshore and onshore, offered in the round located in 22 sectors of 10 Brazilian sedimentary basins: Amazonas, Camamu-Almada, Campos, Espírito Santo, Jacuípe, Parnaíba, Pelotas, Potiguar, Reconcavo and Sergipe-Alagoas.
While ANP may not have a reason for the low turnout among industry, Brazil's auction hasn't been the only one to achieve a low success rate. Response to auctions in the US Gulf of Mexico and the first phase of Mexico's Round One have been modest.
Back in August, the US attracted only US$22.7 million in bids for its most recent Gulf of Mexico lease sale. And most notably, in July Mexico's first phase of its Round One auction only awarded 2 of 14 tracts.
Read more
22 more approved for Brazil's 13th round
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