Government allows offer of 11 pre-salt oil blocks in permanent round

The CNPE (National Energy Policy Council) authorized the regulator ANP to offer 11 pre-salt blocks, in the Campos and Santos basins, in the permanent offer system for a subscription bonus of R$ 1.3 billion, according to the government this Thursday (9).

In the permanent offer, the blocks are available to investors, but until now the system was used for areas with lesser potential, which did not include pre-salt.

With the measure, the government takes another step to try to accelerate the development of the pre-salt, given the advance of the global energy transition towards an economy with less carbon emissions.

Despite becoming part of the permanent offer, the 11 blocks will be auctioned under a production sharing regime, in which the winners are those who offer the highest percentage of the so-called profit oil to the Union, in addition to paying a fixed subscription bonus.

Five of the 11 blocks have already been offered and not sold in traditional rounds before, such as Itaimbezinho, Norte de Brava, Bumerangue, Cruzeiro do Sul and Sudoeste de Sagittarius.

The remaining six blocks would be offered in future rounds: Ágata, Água Marinha and Esmeralda (in the 7th round) and Jade, Turmalina and Tupinambá (in the 8th round).

For these areas, the CNPE defined minimum excess oil rates for the Union, ranging from 4.88%, in the case of Tupinambá, to 22.71%, in the case of Norte Brava.

The CNPE reiterated that, according to the legislation, Petrobras must manifest its preemptive right, within 30 days, after the publication of the CNPE Resolution.

The investment potential for all areas, in case of commercial discoveries of oil or natural gas and development of production, is R$ 150 billion, according to the CNPE.

The government’s initiative allows for advances to accelerate pre-salt exploration, but it still does not fully meet the demands of the industry.

Recently, Petrobras’ Executive Director of Exploration and Production, Fernando Borges, said in an online event that the government needs to change rules and allow areas of the pre-salt polygon to be offered under a concession, or else there would be no interest in investments for the development of new areas in the region.

The production sharing regime was implemented for the pre-salt in the past based on the logic that there was a minimum exploratory risk and large volumes involved. But, after the blocks with the greatest potential have been auctioned, this expectation no longer exists for areas not yet contracted, in the executive’s assessment.

Other inclusions

The CNPE also authorized the ANP to define and bid, in a permanent offer, under the concession regime, blocks in any land or maritime basins, except areas in the pre-salt polygon or in strategic areas, except by specific determination of the council.

According to CNPE, the agency may also bid for fields returned or in the process of being returned.

This measure, according to the agency, covers the blocks located on the Brazilian continental shelf, in addition to the 200 nautical miles and the blocks that would be offered in the 18th Bidding Round, in 2022, transferring them to the Permanent Offer system.