Mourão says pre-salt auctions will begin in the second half of the year.

Reuters - The government expects to begin auctions for pre-salt oil fields in the second half of the year, hoping to raise around $70 billion, Vice President Hamilton Mourão said on Monday during a teleconference organized by Citi.

"According to our Minister of Mines and Energy, Admiral Bento Albuquerque, we may be able to start the pre-salt auctions in the second half of the year," Mourão said during a closed teleconference, in English, which Reuters had access to.

"Also according to Bento and the Minister of Finance, Paulo Guedes, we could raise around 70 billion dollars with the auctions of these fields," added Mourão, without specifying a timeframe.

The previous government had approved the 6th round of bidding for pre-salt areas for November of this year.

It is also predicted that the 7th and 8th rounds of pre-salt oil exploration will take place in 2020 and 2021, respectively -- but it had not yet been determined how much revenue could be raised from these areas.
The current government is still working to hold an auction of surplus areas in the pre-salt layer known as the onerous transfer agreement, although a date has not yet been set. Authorities previously estimated that such an auction could raise 130 billion reais.

Asked about the government's expectations regarding the sale of state-owned companies, Mourão stated that the federal government has identified more than 140 companies that could be privatized.

"According to Paulo Guedes, our Minister of Economy, we expect to raise around 50 to 70 billion dollars in financial resources once we sell all these companies," Mourão stated during the presentation.

Foresight

The vice president also said in the teleconference that the government has "very good expectations" regarding the approval of the pension reform by the National Congress, especially after the election of the new presidents of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Both Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), elected on Friday to the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, and Davi Alcolumbre (DEM-AP), elected on Saturday, have expressed support for the vote on the bill.

"Congress is aware that if there is no pension reform, it will be very bad for Brazil. We are very confident that the reform will pass in the Chamber and the Senate," said Mourão.

According to him, President Jair Bolsonaro's government will take advantage of items from the proposal sent to Congress by his predecessor, Michel Temer, to try to speed up the bill's progress through the legislature.

A decision regarding the minimum retirement age is still being discussed, but it has already been agreed that both civil servants and the military will be included in the text of the reform that the government will send to parliamentarians, the vice president said.