SAO PAULO, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Fourteen companies have been
officially approved by Brazilian authorities to participate in
an oil bidding round in November, in which total signing bonuses
are expected to be the biggest so far, exceeding $25 billion,
national oil regulator ANP said on Monday.
As widely expected, the companies participating include a
broad swath of global oil majors.
In addition to Brazilian state-run oil firm Petroleo
Brasileiro SA, or Petrobras, authorities have
approved the Brazilian units of:
-BP PLC
-Chevron Corp
-China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Co
(CNODC), a unit of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC)
-China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)
-Ecopetrol SA
-Equinor ASA
-Exxon Mobil Corp
-Galp Energia SGPS SA
-Petronas Dagangan Berhad
-Qatar Petroleum
-Royal Dutch Shell PLC
-Total SA
-Wintershall Dea GmbH
The so-called transfer-of-rights auction is scheduled for
Nov. 6, and concerns a zone of Brazil's southeastern coast.
Petrobras has already done significant exploratory work in the
zone, boosting the area's value, as they are largely devoid of
exploratory risk.
Another offshore oil bidding round - much smaller but still
sizeable by historical standards - will be held in Brazil the
following day.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery
Editing by Marguerita Choy)