The Ministry of Economy confirmed that it intends to end Petrobras' preemptive right in the next pre-salt auctions

The Government intends to end Petrobras' right of preference in the Pre-Salt. The change may be valid in the bidding process for the two remaining blocks in the mega auction held in November. For these blocks, the government should receive less to attract interested parties.

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Anticipated by Globo last September, information about the Petrobras was confirmed by the Secretary of Finance of the Ministry of Economy, Waldery Rodrigues Júnior, in an interview with the newspaper “Valor Econômico”. According to him, the expectation is to hold this tender in December, but he admits that the timetable is tight, and it could be extended to 2021.

The government will bid for two blocks (Atapu and Sépia) for which there were no interested parties in the last auction. Petrobras did not exercise the preemptive right for these areas, which ended up not being auctioned. The government managed to sell two blocks, raising almost R$70 billion.

Currently, the state-owned company tells the government, before each pre-salt bidding, if it intends to impose its minimum participation of 30% as a partner of the winning consortium. This preference may now fall, given the assessment that the norm distorts competition for fields. Changing the right of preference and the sharing regime is an old desire of the team led by the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes.

resistance in congress

There is an assessment, however, that changing the entire regime will face strong resistance in Congress and that the issue should drag on throughout the year. The sharing regime provides for a fixed signature bonus and a variable percentage of oil for the Union, which is the auction criterion. In the concession regime, the bonus is variable and there is no oil for the government.

“At the moment, several items are under study, with no final position defined, dealing with the possibility of reviewing the values ​​​​related to the sharing rates and signing bonuses, in addition to being possible to reassess other factors, such as Petrobras’ preemptive right”, the ministry said in a note.

When contacted, Petrobras did not comment on the matter.

Source: The Globe