RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Thirteen companies have
been approved by Brazilian authorities to participate in a
November oil bidding round for offshore exploration and
production rights.
The companies were cleared to participate in the so-called
6th pre-salt bidding round, according to Thursday's edition of
the government's official bulletin. Total signing bonuses are
fixed at 7.85 billion reais ($1.92 billion).
The auction, scheduled for Nov. 7, is sizable by historical
standards but significantly smaller than a so-called
transfer-of-rights auction due to take place a day earlier. The
government is expected to collect over $25 billion in signing
bonuses at the Nov. 6 auction.
The list of participants on Nov. 7 is similar to those in
the transfer-of-rights round. Two companies are participating in
the 6th pre-salt round, but not the transfer-of-rights round:
the Brazilian unit of Murphy Oil Corp and Repsol Sinopec
Brasil SA, a joint venture between Spain's Repsol SA
and China's Sinopec.
Companies signed up for the transfer-of-rights that are not
included in the sixth round are the Brazilian units of France's
Total SA, Portugal's Galp Energia SGPS SA
and Norway's Equinor ASA.
However, in a Twitter post on Thursday, Brazil's ANP oil
regulator said four more companies had applied to participate in
the pre-salt round. ANP said it would evaluate the requests on
Oct. 14.
Companies already approved for the pre-salt round include:
-BP Energy do Brasil Ltda, a unit of BP PLC
-Chevron Brasil Oleo e Gas Ltda, a unit of Chevron Corp
-CNODC Brasil Petroleo e Gas Ltda, an indirect unit of China
National Petroleum Corp Ltd, or CNPC
-CNOOC Petroleum Brasil Ltda, a unit of China National
Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)
-Ecopetrol Oleo e Gas do Brasil Ltda, a unit of Colombia's
Ecopetrol SA
-Exxonmobil Exploracao Brasil Ltda, a unit of Exxon Mobil
Corp
-Murphy Exploration & Production Co, a unit of Murphy Oil
-Petroleo Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras
-Petronas Petroleo Brasil Ltda, a unit of Petronas
-QPI Brasil Petroleo Ltda, a unit of Qatar Petroleum
-Repsol Sinopec Brasil
-Shell Brasil Petroleo Ltda, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC
-Wintershall Dea do Brasil Exploracao e Producao, a unit of
Wintershall Dea GmbH
($1 = 4.09 reais)
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Marta Nogueira; Editing by Tom
Brown)