An offshore oilfield auction in Brazil on Friday attracted 11 bidders for the same fields that, in 2019, received no offers. Significantly reduced signing bonuses and higher oil prices improved the outlook for bidders on the Sepia and Atapu fields, located in ultra-deep waters in the pre-salt region. State-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro (Petrobras) has already discovered commercially recoverable oil in both blocks.
Before the auction, Petrobras exercised its rights to secure operating control and a 30% minimum stake in the blocks. Petrobras holds 30% of Sepia and 52.5% of Atapu.
Along with Petrobras, TotalEnergies, Qatar Energy and Petronas won the rights to develop the Sepia field – with respective stakes of 28%, 21% and 21%. Shell and Total won the Atapu field, with stakes of 25% and 22.5% respectively.
For Sepia, the signing bonus was 7.138bn reais and the oil profit 37.43%. For Atapu, the signing bonus was 4.002bn reais and the oil profit 31.68%.
