(Updates with results of auction)
By Gram Slattery, Marta Nogueira and Sabrina Valle
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Petrobras, Petronas,
TotalEnergies SE, Royal Dutch Shell and Qatar
Energy scooped up two blockbuster offshore fields in Brazil on
Friday, raking in 11.14 billion reais ($1.96 billion) in signing
bonuses for the government.
TotalEnergies, Qatar Energy and Malaysia's Petronas won the
right to develop the coveted Sepia field, while Brazil's
state-run Petrobras, formally Petroleo Brasileiro SA,
later entered the consortium by exercising preference rights.
Petrobras, Total and Shell won the Atapu field rights.
The auction was widely seen as a test of Brazil's investment
climate and of large oil producers' willingness to keep spending
big on traditional assets.
Eleven companies, from Exxon Mobil to relatively
small local players, had signed up for the chance to bid.
Brazil attempted to sell both fields in 2019, but neither
received bids https://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-oil-auction-idUSKBN1XH1X3,
even from Petrobras. At the time, complex legal issues and rich
signing bonuses kept oil majors away https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-brazil-oil-petrobras-exxon-mobil-excl-idINKBN1XI2DC.
This time, bidding terms were considered more attractive https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSL1N2SZ1VO,
several industry sources told Reuters, largely due to big cuts
in signing bonuses. Brazil also cut the percentage of oil that
must be turned over to the state, known as "profit oil", from
26.23% to 5.89% at Atapu and from 27.88% to 15.02% at Sepia.
The fields are considered attractive as Petrobras has
already discovered commercially recoverable oil in both blocks,
eliminating exploration risk.
The fields could boost Brazilian oil production by 12% over
the next decade and bring in almost $40 billion in investment,
the nation's Energy Ministry said on Monday. Petrobras is set to
receive $6.2 billion for past investments in the two fields.
The 11 companies signed up for the auction were: Petrobras,
Exxon, Shell, Galp Energia SGPS SA, Chevron Corp
, Ecopetrol SA, Equinor ASA, Enauta
Participacoes SA, Petronas, TotalEnergies and Qatar
Energy.
($1 = 5.68 reais)
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Marta Nogueira in Rio de
Janeiro and Sabrina Valle in Houston; Editing by David Gregorio
and Alexander Smith)
