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ANP hails investors’ strong response to

latest bidding round, awards 59 blocks

BRAZIL’S National Agency of Petroleum, Colombia’s national oil company (NOC) Eco-
Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) reported last petrol. Shell Brasil is slated to take a 70% equity
week that the most recent bidding round, the stake in the blocks and will serve as operator;
Third Cycle of the Open Acreage in the Conces- additionally, it will pay BRL98.158 ($21.09mn)
sion Model, had attracted more attention than in bonuses for the assets.
anticipated. These acquisitions bring the number of
According to Rodolfo Saboia, the agency’s Shell’s contracts in Brazil up to more than 30.
director-general, shows of interest from inves- Manoela Lopes, director of exploration at Shell
tors outweighed all expectations. This led to 59 Brasil, hailed the company’s performance in the
exploration blocks in six offshore basins being licensing round. “The third Permanent Offer
awarded in public bidding sessions, he noted. It auction was another milestone in our focus in
also generated some BRL422.4mn ($90.77mn) Brazil, which accounts for about 13% of Shell’s
in signature bonuses, a premium of 854.84% on global oil and gas production,” she commented.
the minimum amount, and will see investors “This new area further expands our portfolio in
spending at least BRL406.3mn ($87.31mn) on Brazil, where we have been acting as operators
exploration work during the first phase of their since the beginning of the 21st century.”
projects, he added. Another European major that came out vic-
“First, we obtained record collections in torious was TotalEnergies (France). It won 100%
Open Acreage cycles, which consolidates this stakes in two exploration blocks in the Santos
model as the main form of bidding areas for basin, S-M-1815 and S-M-1711, and will pay
exploration and production of oil and natural signature bonuses of $125mn and $150mn for
gas,” he said. “We also achieved a record in the these assets. ™
number of blocks awarded in this model, adding
7,855 square km of exploratory area. And more
importantly, we achieved record minimum
investment commitments. These investments
will result in economic activity, employment
and income for Brazilians.”
ANP further noted that 13 companies had
been named as the top bidders in the auctions.
One of these companies, CE Engenharia, is new
to the Brazilian licensing rounds, it stated.
The agency also indicated that Shell (UK) had
done well in the bidding contest. It reported that
Shell Brasil, a subsidiary of the super-major, had
secured rights to six blocks in the Santos basin
– S-M-1910, S-M-1908, S-M-1817, S-M-1713,
S-M-1601 and S-M-1599 – in partnership with Some of the 59 blocks in the round were in the Santos basin (Image: Petrobras)

Petrobras reports on receipt of

payment for stakes in Atapu oilfield

BRAZIL’S national oil company (NOC) Petro- In a statement, Petrobras reported that Shell
bras said last week that it had received full pay- Brasil, a subsidiary of the multi-national com-
ment from Shell (UK) for its share in Atapu, an pany, had paid the sum of BRL5.26bn ($1.1bn)
offshore oilfield in the Santos basin, and had for its 25% stake in Atapu. It indicated that the
given TotalEnergies (France) more time to pay company had made its payment by the previ-
for its own share in the same field. ously agreed deadline of April 15, 2022

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 16 21•April•2022