Page 56: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2013)

56 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News ? NOVEMBER 2013 Offshore DeepwaterBrazil?s Libra pre-salt Þ eld, in Block SS-AUP1 in the Santos Basin, with estimated recov-erable oil volumes of 8-12 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) and in place volumes of between 25-40 billion BOE, was the country?s Þ rst pre-salt Þ eld to be auctioned. The rules governing this historical auction have been shunned by important super-majors such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP and also by major players such as the BG Group and Statoil. Many industry analysts were surprised that state-owned players from China, India and Malay-sia dominated the list of companies that have agreed to the controversial terms imposed by the Brazilian government, through its National Petroleum Agency (ANP). Magda Chambriard, head of ANP, said that she had expected ?more than 40 companies to bid for Libra,? ex-pressing surprise at having only about a quarter that interest actually materializ-ing. She may well have been surprised, but it is highly doubtful that the policy making nucleus in Brazil?s govern- ment was in any way surprised, as the state policy is to maintain tight control over pre-salt E&P. The new rules being implemented for this auction, such as Petrobras being the sole operator of the Þ eld and having a minimum 30% stake in any consortium, along with the high-ly criticized decision to create another state-owned company, Pré-sal Petroleo S.A. (PPSA), to act as manager of the winning consortium without imput-ing capital and having 50% vote in the Operational Committee?s deliberations, along with veto rights, are a reß ection of the government?s policy. Local industry analysts, who asked to remain unnamed, maintain that these and other new rules such as the production-sharing scheme were designed to attract other state-owned players, in detriment to the international super-major players, which are mostly private companies. The reasons for this preference is that these state-owned players participating in the auction, having signiÞ cantly less, if any, experience in operating deepwater pre-salt Þ elds, are therefore more agreeable to Petrobras? operational control and the signiÞ cant fact that these state-owned players are more interested in obtaining the physical oil than in the proÞ ts from oil sales because they need the oil for their own national development. Eleven companies agreed to the auc-tion terms and paid the roughly $1 mil-lion participation fee, after which they received the data package concerning the Libra Þ eld. Of these 11 companies, seven can be considered super-major players because of their market value, according to Bloomberg/PFC Energy estimates as of December 31, 2012. The fact that they paid the participation fee does not necessarily conÞ rm that they would deÞ nitely participate in the auc- tion, and the payment fee was compulso-ry and individual to each company, even those wishing to submit bids through a consortium. Therefore, some of the com- Brazil?s Pre-Salt Policy Brazil?s Pre-Salt Policy The Libra Field & The Libra Field & By Claudio Paschoa, Rio de Janeiro LLLLLLLLLLLiiiiiiiiiibbbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaFFFFFFFFFaaaaaaaacccccccctttttttBBBBBBBBBBoooxxLLLLLLLLiiiiiiiiiiiiiiibbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaa FFFFFFFFFFFaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccccctttttttt BBBBBBBBBBBooooxxx???LiLibrbrbaaaprprpprposossspepepepepectctcttctccccccovers a1,11,545544447.7.7777676ssq.q.kkmmararareaeaeaeaeaaa??LoLoLoLoLoooocacacaccaccateteteteteted dddd d18183 3 3kmkmkmffrororoommththteecococasassattt ofoooofooofooooRRioioddeeeJaJaneneiriroo? DeDeDeptptptptphhhhhofofofof1111,9,644mmm??TeTestststedededddbbbbby yyyyththththe eee2-ANP-P2A2A-R-RJSJSwweleleleelelelelllll--333272777272mmmofooo nettppayayyyaaaandndnddd 27o APIooilill? MiMininimumuumummmmmExEEplorattioion n Progggraraarmmm11,5477ssq.q.q.kkkkkkmmm mofof33D seeeisismimcccc????TwTwTwTwo exploratioioioonnnwewewellllsss????ExExplplorororatataioion n PhPhPasassase e eofofoFFFouuouuor r rryeyeyeeararararararssss? CuCuCuCuCurrrrrrrrrenenenenttt t drdrdrdrilililillililingngndddepepththoooofff f 5,5,41410mm???FiFinanal drdrrillliiiiilnggngnggggdddddepepepepththththffororecececeecasast t at arounddddd6,50500000 00 00 0m (ttoooobebeberrreaeaeachchcheededebby Dececembmer 202020000013131311)))??MMiMniniinimumumummmDeDeDeeeptpth h(M(Maiain n ObObObjejejectctivive)e))--BBararrere-mimianann((IttItIaapapapapemememma aa FoFoFrmrmrmatataioiooon)n)n)))MR #11 (50-57).indd 56MR #11 (50-57).indd 5611/11/2013 12:10:37 PM11/11/2013 12:10:37 PM