Brazil may be among world’s leading oil producers in ten years
Brazil is on its way to becoming one of the world’s leaders in oil production in the next ten years, said Felipe Kury, director of the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP), during a seminar held as part of bidding rounds for oil and natural gas exploration blocks and pre-salt production in Rio de Janeiro.
The challenge is “to have diversity of actors and a number of environments” Kury said. “[It’s] an incredible chance” for Brazil to become a leader in the sector, he said—“a concrete and real possibility, bearing in mind its productive activity, currently on the rise.”
Intense efforts
Efforts to resume auctions have been intense in the last two years, the director pointed out, with 72 blocks sold and $7.4 billion raised in signature bonuses. “It’s a major sign the oil exploration process in Brazil is being restored.”
The 16th bidding round for oil and natural gas exploration blocks and the 6th round of pre-salt shared production have auctions slated for October 7 and November 7, respectively. The surplus of the onerous grant is scheduled to be auctioned on November 6.
Under onerous grant surplus, Petrobras is the operator, and ANP relies on information from the company to build its technical data. The auction with permanent offers includes fields returned or in the process of being returned, as well as exploration blocks offered in previous rounds and not won and returned blocks. The operation should take place on September 10, with 47 companies having shown interest so far.
The auction for the surplus of the onerous grant, Felipe Kury reported, is expected to bring in $28 billion in signature bonuses. “I’d say it’s the biggest auction ever seen in the history of Brazil.”
Innovation and research
Kury noted that the auctions two years ago and the auctions to be held this year have a horizon of 20 to 30 years for production, and mobilize all of the production chain, possibly changing the country’s energy network with the injection of natural gas, which “can be transformative for the chemical sector and the industry.”
To Kury’s judgment, the dynamics is expected to generate funds for investment in research and development equivalent of one percent of production. “It also engages a whole chain of services and the academic community.”
He went on to say that, as happened a few years ago with Petrobras—investing in research on deep water exploration, which earned the company a globally prominent position—many other topics may be covered with the funding raised for research and development.
In the last ten years, the amount invested in knowledge added up to approximately $3.5 billion. “Now, these funds are likely to double or triple in the coming ten years,” he said.
