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Brazil will offer at least 92 oil and gas exploration blocks this year through the 17th concession round, scheduled for October.
Another batch of exploration areas may be tendered in the third round of regulator ANP’s open acreage program if companies express interest.
The country’s exploration portfolio under contract currently comprises 270 blocks.
BNamericas outlines some of the main operators:
The state-owned firm operates 73 assets, mostly in the Campos (12) and Santos (9) basins. It is currently drilling an exploration well in Campos block C-M-346 and in the Espírito Santo basin, where it is testing a pre-salt reservoir. Petrobras has additional exploration commitments involving production sharing contracts for areas such as Alto de Cabo Frio Central, Aram, Dois Irmãos, Libra, Sudoeste de Tartaruga Verde, Três Marias and Uirapuru and plans to invest US$1bn by 2025 in exploration in the Equatorial Margin.
Onshore, the Brazilian NOC operates only three blocks (PAR-T-218, PAR-T-198 and PAR-T-175), in the Paraná basin, as its business strategy is prioritizing deep and ultradeep deepwater projects.
The Anglo-Dutch company operates 18 offshore exploration blocks: 10 in Barreirinhas, four in Santos, three in Campos and one in the Potiguar basin.
Its projects include the pre-salt blocks Alto de Cabo Frio Oeste and Sul de Gato do Mato in Santos, and block C-M-791 in Campos, where it will soon begin a drilling campaign with Seadrill’s West Tellus rig.
The Brazilian group owns 17 onshore blocks, all in the Parnaíba basin, where it has deployed a big gas-to-wire complex. In February, one of these assets (block PN-T-102A) originated a new field, dubbed Gavião Belo. The company is currently conducting a discovery evaluation plan (PAD) in block PN-T-48.
The US major is the operator of 17 offshore blocks: nine in Sergipe-Alagoas, five in Campos and three in Santos. It is drilling a well in the Campos basin, in block C-M-789, and plans to drill a wildcat well in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin in the second half of the year.
The Brazilian firm owns six onshore blocks in Espírito Santo, three in Recôncavo, three in Potiguar and two in the São Francisco basins. It plans to invest US$160mn by 2025, with the lion’s share spent on drilling 35 wells and carrying out workovers in another 59 wells.
The Canadian group operates five onshore blocks in the Recôncavo basin, but at three of them (REC-T-129, REC-T-142 and REC-T-155) the exploration program is suspended, with the other two (REC-T-117 and REC-T-118) due for completion by November 2022.
The UK oil major operates four blocks in Campos, two in Santos and one in Barreirinhas. One of its main projects is the Pau Brasil production sharing contract, for which BP paid a 500mn-real (US$99mn) signing bonus in partnership with Ecopetrol and CNOOC Petroleum.
The US company operates two blocks in Santos and one in Campos. No drilling schedule has been made public by Chevron yet, but, according to ANP, the first exploration period of the assets ends between 2025 and 2027.
The independent Latin American firm is the operator of four onshore blocks in the Recôncavo basin and two (also onshore) in the Potiguar basin. It is currently carrying out a PAD in Recôncavo block REC-T-128.
The Norwegian firm operates one block in Campos and one in Santos. The BM-S-8 block encompasses the Bacalhau field, where Equinor plans to invest US$8.5bn, while block C-M-539 is part of the BM-C-33 block, where the production development concept was recently approved by the company.
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The full list, which is presented below, includes other major players like Alvopetro, Chariot, Harbour Energy (formerly Premier Oil), Karoon, Repsol, Rosneft, Total and Wintershall.
Source: BNamericas based on ANP data