Petrobras Made Its Decision and Snagged Three Pre-Salt Areas at Once

With Preemptive Rights, Petrobras Chose Three of the Eight That Will Be Auctioned in the 2nd Half of 2017

Petrobras, which is no fool, has already taken the lead and chosen the three most productive areas of pre-salt in the country out of a total of eight. But this is not unconstitutional; on the contrary, there is a law that allows it to have preference over any asset of its choice, regardless of who will win the other consortia, provided its minimum participation is 30%. The areas it selected are:

• Sapinhoá
• Peroba
• Alto de Cabo Frio

Sapinhoá belongs to the second bidding round, while the areas of Peroba and Cabo Frio Central still belong to the third round, which will likely take place on October 27 of this year.

The estimated investment amount for Petrobras, assuming it maintains this 30% stake, will be around R$810 million.

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It’s worth noting that in the first bids of the pre-salt, specifically the Libra area, Petrobras retained 40%. The other operators, consisting of Shell, Total, CNOOC, and CNPC, divided the 60% of the productive sector.

Pedro Parente, president of the state-owned company, stated in an interview that the decisions were made exclusively based on the technical and financial characteristics that the company is currently experiencing.

Solange Guedes, area director, unfortunately added that to gather these R$810 million, the company will have to delay exploratory and production projects, prioritizing the divestment plan of BR, despite activities in this sector being quite intense and still having many areas outside the pre-salt.

About the Areas Petrobras Secured

1. Sapinhoá is a region that is already fully operational. It also ranks second in terms of size and daily oil production, reaching a mark of 253 barrels every day. Petrobras, Shell, and Repsol are operating in it.
2. Peroba is the most productive area, located not far from the Lula Field, about fifty kilometers away. Petrogal and Shell also operate this area alongside Petrobras, of course.
3. Alto do Cabo Frio Central is a hydrocarbon site with limited exploration, but with monstrous potential, as technical studies indicate that this area is the largest ever discovered in national territory.

Still struggling with the crisis, Petrobras hopes that these bids will help restore its name and prestige in the international market, with some local content issues and the political crisis affecting the country still to be resolved.