To present the main points of the Environmental Licensing Framework bill, recently approved by the Federal Senate, the Council hosted Alex Garcia, Regulatory and Institutional Relations Manager at BW Energy. On the topic of the Permanent Offer, the guests were Marina Abelha, Superintendent of Bidding Promotion, and Josie Quintela, Deputy Superintendent, both from the Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). The meeting was held on June 30 at Firjan’s headquarters.

"Environmental licensing is a highly relevant topic for our market. I followed the entire process and can assure you that the text approved by the Senate is very balanced. It does not grant excessive powers to any one side," said Emiliano Gomes, Chairman of the Council. He also emphasized: "If the judiciary allows the bill to move forward, it will represent a major change in accelerating licensing processes. As things stand, we face many delays in production across the Campos Basin."

Alex Garcia agreed, noting that environmental licensing today is highly bureaucratic and complex, often leading to delays in production activities. "The Senate’s approval of Bill 2159/2021, which establishes the General Environmental Licensing Law, brings greater clarity and introduces a significant improvement: the possibility for companies to self-license," he explained.

Previously limited to small companies with low environmental impact, self-licensing will now also apply to medium-sized enterprises with moderate potential impact. The bill also creates a Special Environmental License (LAE), allowing the federal government to expedite the approval of projects deemed strategic to the country—such as oil exploration. Another important change, Garcia pointed out, is that only the directly affected area will now be considered in licensing evaluations in the oil and gas sector.

However, Garcia also flagged a potential legal risk: "There is concern about judicial challenges due to the perceived loosening of licensing rules in the oil and gas sector. Environment Minister Marina Silva has criticized the bill, arguing that environmental regulations must not be weakened."

The bill sets a four-year deadline to establish a unified national database for environmental licensing data. This will provide open access to all entrepreneurs, facilitating information gathering and the preparation of environmental studies, Garcia added.

Permanent Offer Auction

On the subject of the Permanent Offer, Marina Abelha explained that after significant effort by the ANP team, the public notice for the Permanent Offer under the concession regime was published in December 2024.

"We had a new ANP resolution issued, which introduced some flexibilities and adjustments in the bidding rules. Since we were already working on these adjustments, we took the opportunity to improve a few other elements as well," said Abelha.

She noted that 2024 was relatively slow in terms of area offerings due to CNPE Resolution No. 11/2023. This resolution regulates the Permanent Offer System under the production-sharing regime, approves technical and economic parameters for the auctions, and sets guidelines for Local Content requirements in future bidding cycles under both concession and production-sharing regimes.

"We were able to publish the notice in December 2024, opened the cycle in February 2025, and the public session will take place in June. The main focus of this round is on new frontier areas," she concluded.