Petrobras Bids US$594M for 12 Brazil Offshore Blocks

BRAZIL · ENERGY

Brazil’s state-controlled oil company outbid a TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy consortium and offered more than 200 times the minimum for two offshore blocks.

Petrobras bid about US$594 million on Wednesday, 7 October, for 12 offshore oil blocks in Brazil’s Campos Basin. The Brazil oil auction raised 3.0 billion reais (about US$602 million), the most since the regulator’s permanent-offer system began.

No American company placed a bid, but Petrobras’s depositary receipts trade on the New York Stock Exchange. Its only offshore rival was a consortium of France’s TotalEnergies and Qatar’s state-owned QatarEnergy, which lost all five of its bids.

What the Regulator Announced

The ANP, Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels, ran the sale in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday afternoon. It was the sixth cycle of the agency’s permanent concession offer, a rolling system that keeps blocks available for bids.

Buyers took 49 of the 308 exploration blocks on offer, covering 35,302 square kilometres, slightly more than the area of Maryland. They also bought three of five small onshore areas with known but marginal oil accumulations.

Signing bonuses for the blocks totalled 3,005,659,796 reais (about US$602 million), the ANP said on Wednesday evening. That was an average premium of 3,511% over the minimum bonuses set in the tender rules.

Winners committed at least 1.58 billion reais (about US$317 million) to work in the first, exploration phase of the contracts. Of 46 qualified companies, ten bid and nine won blocks.

Earlier on Wednesday, a separate pre-salt round sold seven of 13 blocks for fixed bonuses of 530.5 million reais (about US$106 million). Conversions use the Central Bank of Brazil’s PTAX rate for Wednesday, 7 October, of 4.99 reais per US dollar.

Four Campos Blocks Drew Most of the Money

Petrobras bid alone for all 12 of its Campos Basin blocks, off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state. Its offers there totalled 2.97 billion reais (about US$594 million), or 98.7% of the auction’s bonuses.

It offered 754.2 million reais (about US$151 million) each for blocks C-M-115 and C-M-161, premiums of about 21,026%. It bid about 629 million reais (about US$126 million) each for C-M-163 and C-M-216.

Those four deep-water blocks, all in sector SC-AUP1, drew 2.77 billion reais (about US$554 million) between them. Their combined minimum bonus was about 14.1 million reais (about US$2.8 million), according to the energy news outlet eixos.

In five Campos blocks, Petrobras beat offers from TotalEnergies, as operator, and QatarEnergy. The consortium bid between 5.5 million reais and 27.5 million reais (about US$1.1 million to US$5.5 million) per block.

Petrobras’s eight other Campos blocks drew 200.5 million reais (about US$40 million) combined. Four of them sold at the minimum bonus.

Equatorial Margin and Onshore Winners

In the Ceará Basin, part of Brazil’s northern Equatorial Margin frontier, Petrobras teamed up with QatarEnergy. The partners took seven blocks for 28.5 million reais (about US$5.7 million), unopposed and at the minimum bonus.

Petrobras holds 70% of those blocks and will operate them, with QatarEnergy holding the other 30%. Across all 19 of its blocks, Petrobras accounted for 99.7% of the bonuses.

The rest of the sale went to smaller onshore producers. Aguila won 12 blocks, gas producer Eneva six in the Parnaíba Basin and Origem four in the Tucano Sul Basin.

Aguila’s haul included two blocks in the Tacutu Basin in Roraima, a Brazilian state that borders Guyana. Alvopetro, PetroRecôncavo, Petrom and Tucano Serviços also won blocks.

Environmental Groups Object

Instituto Internacional Arayara, an environmental group that litigates against oil licensing, opposed the sale. It said 22 of the 59 areas sold in Wednesday’s two auctions are the subject of court cases, eixos reported.

Arayara pointed to risks for coral habitats and small-scale fishing off Ceará. It also flagged indigenous communities near the Tacutu blocks and a protected area across the border in Guyana.

The Observatório do Clima, a network of 172 civil-society groups, said both auctions ignored the climate emergency. Its public policy coordinator, Suely Araújo, called the run of oil auctions irresponsible and urged a roadmap away from fossil fuels.

What It Means for You

For holders of Petrobras’s New York-listed receipts, the Brazil oil auction commits about US$600 million in bonuses on 19 blocks. That total includes the 30% share of the Ceará bonuses owed by QatarEnergy.

American majors stayed out of this round. ExxonMobil and Chevron won Foz do Amazonas blocks in the previous cycle in June 2025, eixos reported at the time.

This cycle offered no Foz do Amazonas acreage, and its only Equatorial Margin blocks were off Ceará. Exploration blocks take years to yield oil, if they ever do, so the sale has no near-term effect on US fuel prices.

What Is Not Known

Petrobras’s news agency carried no statement on the bids by Thursday morning. It is not known why it valued two Campos blocks at more than 200 times their minimum bonus.

It is not known whether Arayara’s court cases will delay any contract. It is also unclear whether TotalEnergies and QatarEnergy will return for Campos acreage in a future cycle.

What Comes Next

Winners must now submit documents and pay their signing bonuses, the ANP said. It expects to sign the concession contracts by Friday, 26 February 2027.

A winning bid in the Brazil oil auction is not a discovery. Drilling still needs environmental licences, and any find could take years to develop.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Brazil’s permanent offer?

It is the main way the ANP licenses oil and gas areas, keeping blocks available instead of holding one-off rounds. Companies study the data and declare interest, which triggers a new bidding cycle.

How did this auction differ from the pre-salt round?

In concession rounds, the highest signing bonus and work programme win, and the company owns the oil it produces. In pre-salt rounds, bonuses are fixed and the winner offers the government the largest share of profit oil.

Did any US company win blocks?

No. None of the ten bidders in the concession round was American, according to the ANP’s list of offers.

Where is the Campos Basin?

It lies off the coast of Rio de Janeiro state in southeastern Brazil. It has long been one of the country’s main offshore oil regions.

When will the contracts be signed?

The ANP expects signing by 26 February 2027. Winners must first submit documents and pay their signing bonuses.

Sources: ANP statement on the 6th concession cycle, 7 October 2026; ANP results page, 6th concession cycle; ANP winning offers spreadsheet; ANP sector SC-AUP1 result; Central Bank of Brazil PTAX rate; Agência Brasil; eixos, Petrobras results; eixos, Arayara and Observatório do Clima; eixos, June 2025 cycle (all accessed 8 October 2026).