The ANP Collegiate Board approved yesterday (1/8) the announcement and the contract models of the Assignment of Excess Volumes Bid Round, scheduled to take place on November 6. The documents will be submitted for approval by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) and, subsequently, by the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU). It is expected that the final version will be published on 6/9.

The pre-announcement and the draft minutes had been published on 6/13 and were subject to a 20-day public consultation, plus a 5/7 public hearing. In the process, 321 market contributions were received, of which 271 were on draft contracts and 50 on pre-announcement. The suggestions were evaluated by the ANP together with the MME and the PPSA and part of them was fully or partially accepted.

In addition to the contributions, there were also changes in the documents due to new guidelines published by the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE) and the MME.

The main changes in the announcement were:

- The ANP will determine the co-participation agreement (ACP) in accordance with industry best practice if the parties do not sign it voluntarily;

- Possibility of a pre-agreement setting out the terms and conditions that allow the winning bidders to gain access to a percentage of the co-participation area production in the period between the signature of the Production Sharing Contract (CPP) and that of the ACP.

- Need to provide for the amendment to the production individualization agreement (AIP) to be effective on the same day as the effective date of the ACP.

- Improvement of the rules of use of documents sent abroad, to avoid unnecessary costs.

The contract, in Annex VIII, included issues related to the operation of the Operating Committee, in addition to an excerpt specifying that operations performed with the consent of all contractors, but without the agreement of the manager, will be dealt with operations with exclusive risk. The wording was also revised to adapt it to the CNPE and MME rules and to the Agency's own regulatory changes.