RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Brazil's government onFriday awarded four blocks in the coveted offshore pre-saltlayer, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under athick layer of salt, in the final energy auction before nextmonth's presidential election.
The tender was a success for the government ahead of apresidential vote that has cast uncertainty over the sector andfor oil majors like Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron,Exxon Mobil Corp and Petrobras, which won keyblocks in the Santos and Campos basins.
Consortia competed by offering the government the biggestpercentage of after-cost oil to be produced from the block andagreed to pay a fixed signing bonus. The government earned 6.82billion reais ($1.71 billion) in signing bonuses on Friday.
See below for information about the blocks, the companies,and their pledges.
BLOCK: SATURNO, SANTOS BASINWINNER: Consortium made up of Shell (50 percent) and Chevron (50percent)SIGNING BONUS: 3.125 billion reaisOIL PLEDGE TO GOVERNMENT AFTER COSTS: 70.2 percent (minimum waspercent pct)
BLOCK: TITA, SANTOS BASIN
WINNER: Consortium made up of Exxon Mobil (64 percent) and QatarPetroleum International (36 percent)
SIGNING BONUS: 3.125 billion reais
OIL PLEDGE TO GOVERNMENT AFTER COSTS: 23.49 percent (minimum was9.53 percent)
BLOCK: PAU BRASIL, SANTOS BASIN
WINNER: Consortium made up of BP (50 percent), CNOOC (30percent), and Ecopetrol (20 percent)
SIGNING BONUS: 500 million reais
OIL PLEDGE TO GOVERNMENT AFTER COSTS: 63.79 percent (minimum was24.82 percent)
BLOCK: SOUTHWEST OF TARTARUGA VERDE, CAMPOS BASIN
WINNER: Petrobras
SIGNING BONUS: 70 million reais
OIL PLEDGE TO GOVERNMENT AFTER COSTS: 10.01 percent (minimum was10.01 percent)
($1 = 3.9944 reais)(Reporting by Alexandra AlperEditing by Bill Trott)