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The Ministry of Economy Confirmed That It Intends to End Petrobras’ Right of First Refusal in Upcoming Pre-Salt Auctions
The Government intends to end Petrobras’ right of first refusal in the Pre-Salt. The change may be valid in the bidding for the two remaining blocks from the mega auction held in November. For these blocks, the government is expected to receive less to attract interested parties.
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Previously reported by Globo last September, the information about 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 auction in December, but he admits that the schedule is tight, possibly pushing it to 2021.
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The government will auction two blocks (Atapu and Sépia) for which there were no interested parties in the last auction. Petrobras did not exercise its right of first refusal for these areas, which ultimately went unsold. The government managed to sell two blocks, raising nearly R$ 70 billion.
Currently, the state-owned company informs the government, before each pre-salt auction, whether it intends to impose its minimum participation of 30% as a partner in the winning consortium. This preference may now diminish, given the assessment that the rule distorts competition for the fields. Changing the right of first refusal and the sharing regime is a long-standing desire of the team led by Minister of Economy Paulo Guedes.
Resistance in Congress
There is, however, an assessment that altering the entire regime will face strong resistance in Congress and that the topic is likely to drag on throughout the year. The sharing regime provides for a fixed signing bonus and an additional variable percentage of oil for the Union, being this the bidding 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 defined position, addressing the possibility of reviewing the values related to sharing rates and signing bonuses, as well as also possibly reevaluating other factors, such as Petrobras’ right of first refusal,” said the ministry in a statement.
When contacted, Petrobras did not comment on the matter.
Source: O Globo
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