Brazil approves 13 companies to bid in November oil auction

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)