RIO DE JANEIRO�Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) published a list of the 44 companies it has approved for participation in the country's second open licensing round, scheduled for June 7. The list includes major oil firms TotalFinaElf SA, ENI SPA, ExxonMobil Corp., and Royal Dutch/Shell Group.
ANP is auctioning 23 blocks, of which 13 are offshore and 10 onshore. Forty-eight firm sought permission to participate. The number of qualifiers exceeds that for the previous round (44 vs. 38 in 1999).
ANP has collected $9.04 million in participation fees, vs. last year's $9.79 million. According to ANP Director David Zylbersztajn, the decrease is a result of a greater interest in onshore blocks by medium and small companies.
Of the 44 firms participating, 15 are American, 11 European, 7 Brazilian, 3 Canadian, 3 Argentinean, 2 Australian, 1 Japanese, 1 South Korean, and 1 Taiwanese. Only Petroleo Brasileiro SA from Brazil participated in the first bidding round last year. This is the first time Australian, Danish, and Taiwanese firms will participate.
The prequalified bidders are:
Amerada Hess International Ltd.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
ATP Petroleo SA (Brazil)
BG International Ltd.
British Borneo Oil & Gas PLC
Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd.
Chevron Corp.
Chinese Petroleum Corp.
Coastal Corp
Companhia Brasileira de Petroleo Ipiranga (Brazil)
Construtora Norberto Odebrecht SA (Brazil)
Crestar Energy International
Elf Aquitaine
ENI
Enterprise Oil PLC
Esso Brasileira de Petroleo Ltda.
Fay Richwhite Holdings Ltd.
Hunt Oil Co.
Indonesia Petroleum Ltd.
Kerr-McGee Corp.
Koch Materials Co.
Maersk Olie og Gas AS
Marathon Oil Co.
Mineracao Caraiba SA (Brazil)
Newfield Exploration Co.
PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd.
Perez Companc SA
Petroleos de Portugal SA
Petrobras (Brazil)
Phillips Petroleum Co.
Pluspetrol Resources Corp.
Queiroz Galvao Perfuracoes SA (Brazil)
Rainier Engineering Ltd. Maritima (Brazil)
Repsol SA
Santa Fe Snyder Corp.
Shell Brasil SA
SK Corp.
Sun Resources NL
Tecpetrol SA
Texaco Brasil SA Produtos de Petroleo
Union Pacific Resources Co.
Unocal Corp.
Vintage Petroleum Inc.
Wintershall AG