The collegiate Board of ANP approved yesterday (19/5) the contractual extension of the production phase of three producing fields: east of Poço Xavier (Potiguar Basin), Boa Esperança (Potiguar Basin) and Atlanta (Santos Basin). The initial maturity of the contracts was scheduled for 05/08/2025 (east of Poço Xavier and Boa Esperança) and 26/12/2033 (Atlanta) and was extended until 31/12/2036, 05/08/2052 and 30/06/2044 respectively. With today's approvals there are a total of 56 Fields, mostly Round Zero (1998), with the production phase extended, being 29 on land and 27 at sea, in the basins of Campos, Reconcavo, Potiguar, Alagoas, Espirito Santo, Amazonas, Santos and Camamu.

With the extension phase of production, instead of the closure of the concession contract on the originally scheduled date, production is not interrupted, thus maintaining the benefits associated with it, such as the payment of government contributions, the contracting of services associated with operations and maintenance and the generation of new jobs. Another benefit is that the knowledge held by the current operator allows him to build more accurate models on the behavior of the field, maximizing production and generating efficiency gains.

Over the next five years, the fields that have already been extended are expected to invest 17.3 billion dollars.

The ANP has been working to analyze in an agile way the claims for contractual extension of the production phase and has promoted continuous improvements, such as the optimization of internal processes and the use of the framework of fields and accumulations of marginal economy for a simplified model of Development Plan, in the regulatory Agenda of the ANP for 2022-2023 period.

The possibility of extending the production phase of field contracts from Round Zero is foreseen in resolution 2/2016 of the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE), an understanding that was extended to fields from other rounds by CNPE resolution 6/2020. In all, 65 requests for the extension of the contract production phase have been analyzed by the ANP since 2016.

In order to be approved, applications for an extension must meet the following guidelines: the extension must be made only for Fields whose extension of the production period proves feasible beyond the original contractual period; concessionaires interested in the extension referred to in caput must submit the New Development Plan for approval by the ANP, indicating the investments to be made; the extension period must be compatible with the production expectations arising from the New Development Plan and the new investments, limited to twenty-seven years. Failure to comply with investment and production commitments, after ANP's analysis, may initiate an administrative process aimed at the loss of effectiveness of the extension.

The list of applications for extension of the production phase can be found at:https://www.gov.br/anp/pt-br/assuntos/exploracao-e-producao-de-oleo-e-gas/gestao-de-contratos-de-e-p/dados-de-e-p