Brazil pre-salt auction to offer 2Bb at Carcará

Oil and gas companies will be offered the chance to tap 2Bb of crude at the Carcará field when Brazil holds its second pre-salt auction next year, according to hydrocarbons regulator ANP.

The auction will offer stakes in ultra-deepwater reservoirs that overlap existing concession boundaries at the Carcará, Sapinhoá, Gato do Mato and Tartaruga Verde fields.

"For the part that has yet to be auctioned at Carcará, we have estimated that there is a volume of about 2Bb of in-situ oil," ANP concession area manager Eliane Petersohn said at the Rio Oil and Gas expo.

She said recoverable reserves in the area, located in the Santos basin, would likely equate to around 600Mb.

Brazil's state-run oil company Petrobras sold a 66% share of Carcará's post-salt area to Statoil for US$2.5bn in July as part of its US$35bn four-year divestment program.

Libra field is the only project to have been auctioned under Brazil's pre-salt production-sharing model.

At a bid round in October 2013, Petrobras secured a 40% stake in the field alongside Shell (20%), Total (20%), CNPC (10%) and CNOOC (10%).

According to the Brazilian petroleum institute the pre-salt areas offered next year will require investment of US$120bn.

In addition to a pre-salt auction, the government plans to stage the country's 14th oil and gas licensing round under its concession contract model in the second half of next year.

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