The MME held on Wednesday (14/12) the 33rd Meeting of the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE). Among the main definitions of today's meeting are the approval of the guidelines for the 14th Round of Bids for Blocks for Exploration and Production of Oil and Natural Gas and 2nd Round of Bids Under the Scheme of Production Sharing.

14th Bidding Round - The CNPE approved a Resolution authorizing the ANP to hold the 14th Round according to the rules of Law 9,478, of 1997, in the concession modality. It was approved the inclusion of 10 blocks of ultra-deep waters, located in the northern portion of the Campos Basin, with high potential. In all, 291 exploratory blocks were selected, distributed in 29 sectors, of 9 sedimentary basins, located in areas of interest in the states of Maranhão, Piauí, Rio Grande do Norte, Alagoas, Sergipe, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

The pre-edital and the draft contract should be published in early 2017 in order to make the offers in the third quarter of the same year. It is estimated that the areas that may be completed in this Round may contribute to the generation of employment and income for the local populations and, in the case of the discovery of commercial petroleum resources, there will also be a benefit from the collection of government participation, taxes and Increase of the country's energy security.

The Local Content for this Round will be set in January 2017.

2nd Round of Production Sharing - The 2nd Round of Tenders was approved under the Production Sharing Regime, which is scheduled to occur in the third quarter of 2017. It will be composed of four areas with unitizable deposits involving areas not contracted to the Union, In the pre-salt region, in the Campos and Santos basins. The areas mentioned are related to the discoveries called Cat do Mato and Carcará, and the fields of Green Turtle and Sapinhoá.

The bidding is of great importance in relation to the continuity of investments in the development of oil and natural gas production from these areas.

According to the unitization guidelines, the same percentage of local content applicable in the area under the adjacent agreement will be applied.

4th Round of Areas with Marginal Accumulations - CNPE also approved the mandatory local content non-enforceability for the 4th Round of Areas with Marginal Accumulations of Oil and Natural Gas. Considering the profile of companies operating in the areas of marginal (national and small and medium-sized) accumulations, as well as the amount of investments required for the operation in these areas of marginal economics, much lower than those of other onshore areas, considers The requirements of local content for these actors and for the supply chain that serves this segment, in the same way as those for other concession agreements, are disproportionate.

Because they are marginal fields, the local content in these activities is already quite high, and local content requirements (such as certifications and percentage calculation processes) would make it difficult to explore these fields.