Brazil Maps 501 New Equatorial Margin Oil Blocks, None Yet Offered for Auction
ENERGY · BRAZIL
Key Facts
- —The country Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, votes in a general election on Sunday 4 October. Its oil regulator, the ANP, maps exploration areas and runs licensing rounds.
- —What happened On Friday 2 October 2026 the ANP board approved 11 new exploration sectors and 501 blocks on the Equatorial Margin. The seabed came from a 2025 UN decision.
- —The numbers The sectors cover about 380,000 km² in five basins, the ANP said on 2 October. All 501 blocks lie in water deeper than 3,000 metres.
- —What it means for you Nothing is for sale yet. The ANP calls the decision technical: it can support survey work, but any auction needs separate analysis and approvals.
- —Still open Whether and when any block enters the ANP’s rolling auction system. Also open: what the areas hold and how licensing would apply so far offshore.
Brazil’s oil regulator has drawn 501 new exploration blocks on the Equatorial Margin, the deepwater frontier off the country’s northern coast. The ANP (National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels) approved the plan on Friday, 2 October 2026.
The blocks sit in 11 new sectors covering about 380,000 km², roughly the size of Germany, according to Agência Brasil. None of them is up for sale, and the regulator stresses that the step is technical.
What the ANP Approved
According to the ANP statement, the 11 sectors span five basins: Barreirinhas, Ceará, Foz do Amazonas, Potiguar and Pará-Maranhão. Every one of the 501 blocks lies in water deeper than 3,000 metres.
The regulator classified the sectors as a “new exploration frontier”, the ANP’s term for areas with little prior exploration data. It also redrew the limits of three existing sectors, SFZA-AP4, SPAMA-AUP1 and SPAMA-AUP2.
Valor Econômico and O Globo reported the same figures on 2 October. The region runs from Amapá state to Rio Grande do Norte, O Globo noted.
Seabed Won at the United Nations
The new area exists because Brazil’s continental shelf grew. In March 2025 the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf accepted Brazil’s claim to seabed beyond 200 nautical miles.
The claim came from LEPLAC, a survey programme coordinated by the Brazilian Navy with the ANP taking part. O Globo noted that a similar claim for southern Brazil was approved in 2019.
Agência Brasil, the state news agency, also compared the area with Mato Grosso do Sul state, at 357,000 km². The ANP said its screening found no overlap with conservation areas that would rule out the boundaries.
Why Nothing Is for Sale Yet
The ANP said the blocks will not enter its Permanent Offer, the rolling auction system, automatically. Any offer would need its own analysis and opinions from the ANP and other public bodies.
Existing contracts are unaffected, because none of the new areas has been awarded. The regulator said early definition gives predictability for seismic, geochemical and other survey work.
A similar preparatory step in July is covered in Brazil Advances 86 Amazon-Coast Oil Blocks for an October Auction. Any drilling would also need a licence from Ibama, the federal environment agency.
Industry Cheers, Critics Urge Caution
The Brazilian Petroleum and Gas Institute (IBP), the main industry body, called the expansion a “strategic step” for replacing reserves. Its executive director for exploration and production, Cláudio Nunes, spoke to Agência Brasil.
Nunes said new reserves are needed to keep Brazil from becoming an oil importer from 2033–2035. He cited Petrobras’s second find off Amapá, reported in Petrobras Finds More Oil in Brazil’s Amazon Mouth Basin.
Ineep, a research institute linked to the oil workers’ federation FUP, welcomed the wider horizon. Its research coordinator, Francismar Ferreira, warned against auctions that hand reserves to foreign majors. He urged firmer state control over reserves and oil revenue.
Legal risk also remains on the Equatorial Margin. Federal prosecutors are still trying to halt Petrobras drilling in the Foz do Amazonas basin. That case is covered in Brazil Prosecutors Seek Halt to Petrobras Drilling Off Amazon Coast.
What Is Not Yet Known
The ANP has set no date for offering any of the 501 blocks. No resource estimate for the new sectors was published with the decision.
It is also unclear how environmental licensing would work at such depths and distances from shore. Brazil votes on Sunday, and the administration that takes office on 5 January 2027 will set the pace.
Sources: ANP, press release, 2 October 2026; Agência Brasil, 2 October 2026; O Globo, 2 October 2026; Valor Econômico, 2 October 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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