The regulator said in a statement that, at the request of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, it temporarily suspended its 17th auction of concessions for exploration and production of oil and natural gas in Brazil, the only one to be held in 2020.
The agency explained that it suspended all the measures it was taking to organize the auction, such as the publication of the pre-public notice and the draft contract, “in view of the current economic and social scenario resulting from the covid-19 pandemic”, said the ANP .
After the suspension, the National Energy Policy Council will define a new schedule for the bidding, which will be submitted to the approval of its members, and there is, for the time being, no prediction of when the contest may be held.
The ANP also informed that it awaits new guidelines from the National Monetary Policy Council on the auctions scheduled for the next biennium, given the current situation.
In the auction now suspended, the Brazilian Government would offer rights to explore oil and gas blocks in the Campos and Santos basins, located in the Atlantic Ocean, on the coast of the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and which concentrate most of the production of country’s oil.
Among the blocks that would be offered, six are located in the Santos basin, more than 200 nautical miles from the coast.
In the same contest, licenses would be offered to explore some areas in the Pará-Maranhão, Potiguar and Pelotas marine basins.
In its last auction of concessions, in October last year, the ANP reached a record of 8.9 billion reais (about 1.55 billion euros) for licenses to explore 12 of the 36 areas it put up for tender.
However, in November, the ANP organized two different auctions to offer association contracts with the State for oil exploration in the pre-salt [area of oil reserves under a deep layer of salt] and only managed to auction three of the nine blocks.
The number of deaths due to the new coronavirus in the last 24 hours in Brazil was 40, to which is added 1,119 confirmed cases, which brings the total to 241 deaths and 6,836 infected, the Brazilian government announced on Wednesday.
