Petrobras must declare the commercial viability of new pre-salt wells.

Nielmar de Oliveira
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Rio de Janeiro - The Secretary of Oil and Gas, of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Marco Antônio Martins Almeida, said today (18) that Petrobras should declare the commerciality of the Franco and Sul de Tupi fields, which are part of the onerous transfer of the pre-salt area of ​​the Santos Basin, by the end of this year.

The onerous transfer is a mechanism created by the federal government to allow the state-owned oil company to produce up to 5 billion barrels of oil in certain pre-salt areas without the need for bidding.

This year alone, the state-owned company informed the government of its intention to declare the commercial viability of all six fields where it operates in the area of ​​onerous transfer: in addition to Franco and Tupi Sul, the company expressed its intention to also declare the commercial viability of the Florin, Sul de Guará, Entorno de Iara and Nordeste de Tupi fields.

The information was given at the Royal Tulip Hotel in São Conrado, in the southern part of the city, where the secretary participated in the opening ceremony of the 10th National Meeting of the National Oil and Natural Gas Industry Mobilization Program (Prominp).

The secretary explained that the intention to declare the commercial viability of the fields in the onerous transfer agreement must be made to the government at least ten months in advance of the declaration.

"The first expression of interest occurred in February, for the first two areas. There was also an expression of interest from the company in April and another in May; and now two, last November," he informed.

The secretary further clarified that the review of the onerous transfer contract, which should take place by the end of next year, will only be done after the declaration of commercial viability of the last area under evaluation, "and this is stipulated in the contract."