Brazil broke its record for revenue on Thursday (28.03.2018) by obtaining just over 8.014 billion reais (about US$2.428 billion) from the auction of offshore oil blocks.
The state-run National Petroleum Agency (ANP) said that 68 areas were offered for auction this Thursday (28.03.2018) in Rio de Janeiro, 47 marine and 21 terrestrial, although none of the latter were awarded.
The amount raised was higher than the 3.840 billion reais (about US$1.163 billion) obtained in the tender last September, which was until now a record for oil concessions in Brazil.
The revenue could have been higher; however, the Court of Auditors of the Union withdrew on Wednesday two exploration areas in the Santos marine basin (southeast), with which the ANP expected to collect up to 70% of all the income expected for this Thursday.
Twelve of the 20 multinationals registered for the auction (11 of them foreign) won a bid.
The record collection is a reflection of the great dispute over areas with potential in the pre-salt zone in the Santos Basin, which raised 7.500 billion reais (US$2.272 billion), 680,4% more that the minimum starting price of all of them.
The main winner, apart from the Brazilian state-owned Petrobras, was the American Exxon Mobil., which was awarded four of the nine concessions offered in the Campos basin, two as an operator and two others in consortia in which it was associated with the Brazilian company.
In addition to Petrobras and Exxon Mobil, other winners of this Thursday's auction were: Norway's Statoil, Qatar's QPI, Spain's Repsol, the US company Chevron, Germany's Winstershall, and the British companies BP Energy and Shell.
According to the ANP, the winning proposals guarantee investments of at least 83.700 billion reais (US$25.365 billion) in the exploration of the areas.
The value refers to the program of activities presented by each company together with the financial proposal.
The high amount raised prompted the government to modify its revenue forecasts from oil auctions for this year, initially estimated at 6.900 billion reais (about US$2.090 billion).
The forecast has now been raised to 12.000 billion reais (about US$3.635 billion), according to the secretary of oil and gas at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Márcio Félix.
Brazil will hold another auction in June in the pre-salt zone, the reserve with large oil deposits in deep waters of the Atlantic.
Source: Xinhua
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