Markets International Oil & Gas Aware of Bids in Brazil

The Oil & Gas industry worldwide is attentive with the publication of the Preliminary Tender Protocol and the draft of the Concession Contract for the 11^th Bidding Round in Brazil.

This Preliminary Tender Protocol is a long waited announcement for the international investors. It contains the provisions applicable to the activities of Exploration and Production of Oil and Natural Gas in exploration blocks and sets the procedures and rules for qualification to participate in the bidding and contracting with the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuel (ANP).

At first, the purpose of the bidding process was to grant Concession Contracts for the activities of Oil and Natural Gas Exploration and Production in only 172 exploration blocks, located in 17 sectors of 9 Brazilian sedimentary basins: Barreirinhas, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Foz do Amazonas, Pará-Maranhão, Parnaíba, Potiguar, Recôncavo and Sergipe-Alagoas.

At the request of President Dilma Rousseff and due to the cancellation of the 8th Round, additional 117 exploration blocks were included: 65 blocks in the shallow and deep waters of the Foz do Amazonas Basin, 36 blocks in the Tucano Sul Basin, 10 blocks in the Pernambuco-Paraíba Basin, and 6 deep water blocks in the Espírito Santo Basin.

A total of 279 exploration blocks are put up for bidding, covering a total area of 155,712 km².

The Brazilian equatorial margin is the new exploratory frontier where companies are preparing to invest heavily. It is formed by the Foz do Amazonas (mouth of the Amazon River), Pará-Maranhão, Barreirinhas, Ceará, and Potiguar (offshore) basins on the northeast coast of Brazil.

The international companies without foreign subsidiaries established in Brazil should, for the purposes of qualification for the bidding process, submit the documentation from the respective controlling company or headquarter of the corporate group it belongs to. In the event of a successful bid, the foreign company must incorporate a local branch according to the Brazilian laws or indicate an already existing Brazilian company to sign the Concession Contract.