The ANP held on Wednesday (3/2), by videoconference, the public hearing on the pre-public notice and the draft of the concession contract for the 17th Round of Exploration Blocks Bids, scheduled to take place on 10/7/2021. During the public consultation period, ANP received 82 contributions related to the pre-public notice and 253 on the draft of the concession contract.

"The 17th Round is a relevant milestone for the oil and gas sector in 2021. This round represents the Government's commitment to the continuity and predictability of the offer of exploratory areas in the country, transforming our resources into wealth for Brazilian society," he said the Director General of the ANP, Rodolfo Saboia, at the opening of the hearing.

Saboia also highlighted the measures that the Agency has been taking to improve bidding processes, such as ANP Resolution No. 837/2021, which allows economic agents to nominate areas of interest. He also recalled the importance of the Permanent Offer and the assignment of rights as ways for companies to enter exploration and production activities, in addition to the next rounds planned: the 18th Round, already authorized by CNPE for 2022, and the 2nd Round of the Surplus from Transfer of Rights, which is likely to occur in 2021.

At the hearing, the main aspects of the pre-public notice and the draft contract were presented by the ANP. Among the main innovations in the bidding instruments of the 17th Round, we highlight the offer of three exploratory blocks, located in the SS-AUP5 sector of the Santos Basin, which are cut by the limit of 200 nautical miles. The concession contract for these blocks will contain a provision on the payment of amounts due to the International Seabed Authority (ISA), pursuant to Article 82 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), and a decreasing reduction in the royalty rate. , from the 6th year of production, until reaching a rate of 5% from the 10th year of production.

The Letter of Credit issued abroad was also reintroduced among the financial guarantees accepted for the purpose of the offer and for compliance with the Minimum Exploratory Program, a modality accepted until the 10th Bidding Round. The provisional suspension of the concession contract for delay in the environmental licensing process was also excluded, with the aim of achieving greater procedural speed.

The 17th Round offered 92 blocks with exploratory risk, with a total area of 53.93 thousand km². The blocks are located in 11 sectors with high potential and a new frontier of four Brazilian marine sedimentary basins: Campos, Pelotas, Potiguar and Santos.