Brazil's National Petroleum Agency opens fourth licensing round

Nov. 1, 2001
Brazil's National Petroleum Agency has disclosed 55 areas, 15 onshore and 40 off, that it will offer for exploration next June. Nine of the onshore areas are in basins with productive fields. Of the 40 offshore areas, half are in less than 400 m of water and 18 are in more than 2,000 m.

By an OGJ Online Correspondent

RIO DE JANEIRO, Nov. 1 -- Brazil's National Petroleum Agency (ANP) has disclosed 55 areas, 15 onshore and 40 off, that it will offer for exploration next June.

The record 55 blocks range from the southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul to the northern state of Amazonas.

Nine of the onshore areas are in basins with productive fields. Of the 40 offshore areas, half are in less than 400 m of water and 18 are in more than 2,000 m of water.

The areas are in 19 sedimentary basins: Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul state; Campos, off Rio de Janeiro state; Espirito Santo in Espirito Santo state; Sao Francisco, Cumuruxatiba, Jequitinhonha, Camamu-Almada, and Reconcavo in Bahia state; Sergipe-Alagoas basin off both states; Pernambuco-Paraiba off both states; Potiguar in Rio Grande do Norte state; Parnaiba, Sao Luiz, and Barreirinhas in Maranhão state; Amazonas and Solimoes in Amazonas state; Para-Maranhão off Para state; and Foz do Amazonas in the mouth of the Amazon river.

An ANP official said a block in the Camamu-Almada basin, in Bahia state, is expected to attract wide interest. Earlier this year Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Petrobras) discovered a gas field in the region.

ANP will hold hearings on the round Nov. 28 in Rio de Janeiro and presentations to industry Dec. 11 in Houston and Dec. 14 in London.