Brazilian agency approves bidding notice for the 6th round of pre-salt auction

The Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP) board approved on Wednesday (12) the bidding notice of the 6th round of pre-salt sharing, which will offer blocks in the Santos Basin pre-salt area. The date of the auction was held on November 7. The signing of the contracts will take place on the first months of 2020.

However, the bidding notice should only be published on September 16, once it has to be approved by the Federal Audit Court (TCU), which asks for a 90-day deadline to analyze the notice and draft agreement approved by the ANP.
The 6th pre-salt auction will offer the areas of Aram, Cruzeiro do Sul (former known as Sudeste de Lula, Sul e Sudeste de Jupiter), Bumerangue and the blocks of Sudoeste de Sagitário and Norte de Brava.

Petrobras’ right of first refusal was manifested for the areas of Aram, Norte de Brava and Sudoeste de Sagitário. Under the sharing auction rules, if Petrobras loses competition for the areas, the company may exercise the right of first refusal on the auction day and guarantee the operation and 30% of the contracts.

Using the right of first refusal, Petrobras commits at least R$ 1.8 billion in signing bonus. The Petrobras share may be greater if the company, alone or in a consortium, presents the best offer for the areas – in this kid of auction the bond is fixed and the competition happens for the state’s participation on the oil surplus.

Changes in the pre-bid announcement of the auction

By an agreement made with the state company’s PPSA and the energy ministry (MME), ANP decided to include in the data package of the 6th round a membership commitment term to the agreements of production individualization. This way, the agency anticipates for companies what will be the winner´s obligations in blocks that need to be unitized – such as Cruzeiro do Sul, Sudoeste de Sagitário and Norte de Brava.