Government Considers Delaying One of This Year’s Three Oil Lease Auctions

Measure Being Studied by the Government Is Well Seen by the Market, Which Would Not Be Overburdened and Could Better Analyze the Proposals

Of the three auctions that will be promoted this year by the ANP, one of them is expected to be postponed. The information came from the Director-General of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), Décio Oddone, yesterday (05/24).
The ANP has heard complaints from oil companies who claim it will be very difficult to analyze all the areas offered, this year there will be 45, and also about the lack of timely approval of investments from their parent companies abroad.

The Three Auctions

October would be the most overloaded month, with two auctions, the 16th round of concessions on the 10th, which includes 36 blocks outside the pre-salt polygon, and the one on the 28th that involves the surplus of onerous assignment, also called mega-auction and involves four reserves already discovered by Petrobras in the pre-salt.

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The third and final auction is scheduled to take place on November 7, and five areas of the pre-salt will be offered.
Confident in making good deals with the auctions, Oddone does not want to overload the companies, but he admitted that there is still no definition on the postponement.

We must wait for the definition of the pre-salt mega-auction, which is still awaiting legislative approval for the government to transfer R$ 33 billion to Petrobras, in order to compensate the company for the drop in oil prices compared to the contract signed in 2010.

Petrobras will use this amount to bid on at least two areas, which it has already shown interest in, which would cost R$ 21 billion.
Given the government’s cash difficulties, the payment would have to be approved by Congress.

Therefore, it is not certain which of the auctions would be postponed, but the Onerous Assignment auction should take place, as the government counts on the R$ 106 billion that would be raised to reduce this year’s fiscal deficit.
This is Oddone’s opinion, who also stated that if it is necessary to postpone one of the auctions, it would be the 16th round of concessions, but the decision lies with the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE).

Oddone even stated that the 16th round of concessions and the 6th pre-salt auction are the most attractive auctions that the ANP has ever drawn up and that he hopes for a five-year calendar in 2020 with two rounds per year.

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