Mario Sergio Lima, Peter Millard – Bloomberg, 01/23/2013
President Dilma Rousseff expanded by 68 percent the amount of acreage offered in Brazil’s first oil exploration auction since 2008 in a move that will help relieve pent-up demand and increase the government’s auction revenue by raising as much as 10 billion reais ($4.9 billion).
Brazil will auction 289 licenses onshore and off the coast of northeastern Brazil on May 14 and May 15, Marco Antonio Almeida, the secretary of oil and natural gas at the Energy Ministry, told reporters in Brasilia today. Brazil also plans to auction areas in the so-called pre-salt region that holds the country’s largest deposits on Nov. 28 and Nov. 29 and shale onshore gas blocks on Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, he said.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4), the world’s biggest producer in deep waters, has discovered high-quality oil in the Ceara and Sergipe basins, where new blocks will be available. The geology along Brazil’s equator also mirrors recent discoveries near the coast of Africa.
