Brazil’s National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) has awarded the state-owned Petrobras operator status of three blocks located in the Campos Basin, offshore Brazil.
The blocks are called Sudoeste de Sagitário, Água Marinha and Norte de Brava.
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Petrobras said it exercised its pre-emptive right with the acquisition of the Água Marinha block; it holds a 30% stake, while TotalEnergies holds 30%; Petronas holds 20% and QatarEnergy holds 20%. Agua Marinha is a 1,300 square kilometres (sq. km) block about 140 kilometres (km) offshore in 2,000 metres (m) of water.
With the Sudoeste de Sagitário block, Petrobras holds a 60% interest while Shell Brasil holds the remaining 40%. Sudoeste de Sagitário covers 1,035 sq km in the southern region of the pre-salt.
The Norte de Brava block was fully acquired by Petrobras. It is in the northern part of the pre-salt.
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“Participation in the 1st Cycle of the Permanent Production Sharing Offer is aligned to the Company’s long-term strategy and strengthens Petrobras’ profile as the main operator of oil fields located in deep and ultradeep waters, potentialising the recomposition of reserves for the Company’s future,” Petrobras said.
The offer of the percentage of the oil surplus to be made available to the Brazilian government was the only criterion adopted by the ANP, with the fixed value of the signature bonus already included in the tender protocol.
Petrobras must now pay a signing bonus of R$729 million to the Brazilian government.
In a separate statement, His Excellency Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of QatarEnergy said: “We are pleased to achieve this latest successful joint-bid, which adds further highly prospective acreage to our upstream portfolio in Brazil, and particularly in the prolific Campos Basin.”
The acquisition, which is expected to close in the first half of 2023, further establishes QatarEnergy as one of the leading upstream players in Brazil.
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In April this year, QatarEnergy entered into a Production Sharing Agreement (PSA) with the Brazilian government related to surplus volume rights of the Sépia oil field, located in the Santos Basin.
In a separate statement, TotalEnergies’ Senior Vice President, Exploration Kevin McLachlan said: “TotalEnergies is pleased to expand its presence in the Campos Basin with this new exploration block, alongside three strategic partners. This is in line with our strategy to focus exploration on selected high potential basins which can deliver material low cost, low carbon intensity resources.”
The entry into this block, according to Total, follows its entry into two blocks – S-M-1815 and S-M-1711 – in the South Santos basin during the 3rd Cycle of the Permanent offer back in April.
