Posted by The National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) has approved a couple of changes regarding some of the offered areas on the 17th Bidding Round.
In Santos, the blocks S-M-1613 and S-M-1615 were merged together, keeping the name of the first one. The blocks S-M-1617, S-M-1619, S-M-1729 and S-M-1731 were also merged under the S-M-1617 name. Those changes were necessary due to some of the areas sharing pre-salt prospects beyond the original limits, which could impact the appeal of such blocks further down the road.
Furthermore, other blocks are no longer on the Bid due to environmental matters. Those are 8 on the Pará-Maranhão Basin and 24 on the Pelotas Basin (highlighted in red on the images below).
The 17th Bidding Round is scheduled to take place on October 7th, 2021 and currently has 92 blocks on offer across Campos, Pelotas, Potiguar and Santos.