The consortium formed by Norwegian Equinor Brazil and Portuguese Galp Energia Brasil won the auction of a block of oil and gas exploration in the Brazilian pre-salt, offering a 15.52% share in the surplus in crude produced.
© Lusa
07/10/2026
by
Lusa
O consortium offered the brazilian government a 15.52% share in the crude surplus produced by the Rodocrossite block, a percentage that determined the victory in the bidding.
The Rodocrossite block, located in the Santos Basin, was one of the seven areas in the fourth cycle of the Permanent Offer of Production Sharing held by the National Agency for Oil, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).
In total, 13 pre-salt blocks were auctioned (an extensive area at the bottom of the sea where there are large reserves of oil and gas below a thick layer of salt) in the Campos and Santos basins, but six were left without proposals, according to the results of the auction held today by the Brazilian regulatory agency.
In the sharing scheme, companies are left with part of production to recover operating costs, while the surplus is divided between the state and the winning companies.
In total, the seven closed blocks are expected to receive investments estimated at $778,4 million (about € 139 million to the current exchange rate), while the subscription bonuses totalled 530.5 million reais (approximately € 94.7 million).
In addition to Equinor and Galp, Petrobras, Brazilian Prio Forte and a consortium formed by Chinese CNOOC Petroleum and Sinopec participated in the winning offers.
There was no competition between the companies and the consortia, which caused each block to receive a proposal from each of the oil tankers.
In the Santos Basin, Petrobras took the Cruzeiro do Sul block, Equinor individually won the Rubi, while CNOOC Petroleum and Sinopec took the Jade.
In the Campos Basin, Prio Forte took over the Magnetita and Hematita blocks, while Petrobras stayed with Azurita, according to the results released after the auction.
According to ANP, the auction was the largest in number of pre-salt areas since the implementation, in 2022, of the current bidding model of the regulatory agency, with five blocks in the Campos Basin and eight in the Santos Basin.
Nineteen companies were entitled to participate in the auction, including the Portuguese Galp and Petrogal, as well as Petrobras, Equinor, Shell, Chevron, Exxon, TotalEnergies, BP and QatarEnergy. The qualification did not oblige companies to submit tenders.
Even today, ANP holds a second auction, this time related to the 6th Cycle of the Permanent Offer of Grant, which has 46 companies qualified and compete 22 sectors of exploratory blocks and two sectors of areas with marginal accumulations.