Posted by Tomorrow, ANP will carry out the 17th Bid Round of Exploratory Blocks. This bid contemplates exploratory opportunities in the Potiguar, Campos, Santos, and Pelotas basins.
It is the first time most of the areas – 82 out of 90 – will be available for the industry to bid. Nine operators are registered to participate in the auction: 3R Petroleum, Chevron, Ecopetrol, Karoon Energy, Murphy Oil Corporation, Petrobras, Shell, TotalEnergies, Wintershall Dea.
Potiguar Basin – 14 deep-water blocks adjacent to the blocks purchased in Round 15 (eastern portion). This area presents a thick sedimentary package, with multiple exploratory opportunities related to the top of the rift and post-rift sequences.
Campos Basin – 15 blocks on offer in the northern portion, in deep and ultra-deep waters, next to the blocks purchased in the 14th and 16th Rounds. These blocks are located in the basin limit right next to the oceanic crust boundary, ultimately the limit of occurrence of the pre-salt play. Two wells were drilled on the 14th round blocks. So far, all of them presented hydrocarbons shows. No conclusive report related to the wells is publicly available.
Santos Basin – 13 Blocks, 10 in the southern portion of the basin with opportunities related to post-salt plays, and 3 blocks in the distal portion with options representing a new exploratory frontier for Santos pre-salt basin limits. The total in-place volume can exceed 7 billion boe (VOIP information published by ANP).
Pelotas Basin – 50 Blocks. For all the available opportunities in this auction, Pelotas is the biggest challenge. Only 2D data is available for analysis, and even knowing that the seismic imaging for the basin is excellent, the lack of domestic analogs raises the uncertainty regarding its potential.
We are glad to notice the continuity of Brazilian auctions and the wide range of opportunities presented to the industry throughout the years.
Good luck to all participants.