Ineep: ANP's fifth auction raises R$ 989 million, but points to the fragility of Brazil's energy sovereignty.
The public session of the 5th cycle of the ANP's Permanent Offer ended with the highest revenue compared to previous cycles.
247 - The public session of the 5th cycle of the ANP's Permanent Offer ended with the highest revenue compared to previous cycles since 2019. However, the results point to a weakening of Brazilian energy sovereignty. This assessment comes from Ineep.
Of the 172 blocks offered, 34 were acquired by nine companies. Petrobras had a discreet participation: it secured eight blocks as operator — five of them in the Equatorial Margin — and participates in a consortium led by ExxonMobil, which holds another five blocks in the same region. In total, the state-owned company is present in 37,6% of the areas acquired, but will be the operator in only 24,2%.
The highlight of the auction was Chevron, which, in consortium with the Chinese company CNPC, won nine exploration blocks in the Equatorial Margin as operator. The Chevron-CNPC alliance alone accounted for 30,6% of all areas acquired and more than half (53,1%) of the areas specifically in the Equatorial Margin.
In the post-salt layer of the Santos Basin, Shell acquired four blocks, Karoon took six, and Equinor secured one. In the Parecis Basin, the only one with onshore areas, only one of the 21 available blocks was acquired—this one by the Brazilian company Dillianz. In the Potiguar Basin, on the other hand, there were no bids.
In total, the auction generated R$ 989,2 million in signature bonuses. Although the amount meets the immediate fiscal interests of the federal government, experts point to the lack of social dialogue and criticize the process, which could compromise the country's energy sovereignty.
The Energy Research Company (EPE) estimates that the region may contain up to 10 billion recoverable barrels. For Ineep, continuing to address “the Brazilian Equatorial Margin as a common exploratory frontier could be a passport for the country to hand over its energy potential to private interests, without major commitments to the socioeconomic and environmental development of the North and Northeast regions and of Brazil.” (With information from...) capital letter).
