Rio De Janeiro — Petrobras as well as Chinese oil firms CNOOC and Petrochina were the winners of a Wednesday oil auction that is expected to bring record revenue for Brazil’s Pre-Sal Petroleo (PPSA).
State-run oil firm Petrobras won two bids, acquiring 12 million barrels from the Mero field and another 2.5 million from Buzios field, while CNOOC took 12 million barrels and Petrochina another 11 million, both from Mero.
Under Brazilian law, oil companies producing under sharing contracts in pre-salt oil fields must hand over a portion of their production to the government, and state-run PPSA is responsible for commercializing it.
State-run PPSA expects the auction to generate an estimated 17 billion reais ($3.01 billion) in revenue, according to its interim president, Tabita Loureiro – above the firm’s estimates of 15 billion reais.
The auction will bring “extraordinary results” to the Brazilian society, said Loureiro.
($1 = 5.6485 reais)
Reporting by Fabio Teixeira and Marta Nogueira – Reuters
