- Brazil auctioned off six of eight exploration blocks in the present historic opening of their coveted pre-salt offshore oil region to foreign operators, exceeding the government’s expectations with commitments for 6.15B reais ($1.88B) in signing bonuses.
- Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) (RDS.A, RDS.B) was especially active, winning stakes by 50 percent the blocks awarded and bolstering its position when the largest foreign operator in Brazil’s offshore oil sector, second merely to state-run Petrobras (NYSE:PBR); Shell believes it may pump oil through the pre-salt fields at below $40/bbl.
- BP took two blocks, such as the Peroba block, that is estimated to contain 5.3B barrels of oil; it won as an element of a consortium that included PBR plus a Chinese group.
- Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) grabbed the Norte de Carcará block – which holds around 2.2B barrels of oil, in the consortium with Statoil (NYSE:STO), which says in addition, it sold a stake from a nearby block to XOM for $1.3B.
- Brazil Pres. Temer says the auction will generate investments more than 100B reais ($30B) near your vicinity by way of the winning oil companies.
- ETFs: EWZ, BRZU, BZQ, UBR, DBBR, FBZ
- Now read: Statoil ASA 2019 Q3 – Results – Earnings Call Slides
Original article
