Brazil plans to auction more than 100 million barrels of oil in August

Brazil's Pré-Sal Petróleo S.A. (PPSA) plans to offer 106.5 million barrels (Mb) and 117Mb of oil in an auction to be held in August this year. 

The information was released by the state-owned company’s commercialization director, Samir Awad, on Tuesday (May 19), during the Argus Rio Crude Conference in Rio de Janeiro.

The volumes will come from the Mero, Atapu, Itapu, Sépia, Búzios and Bacalhau fields, in the pre-salt of the Santos basin.

The transshipment will be carried out between March 2027 and February 2028, except in the case of Bacalhau, whose start is scheduled for November 2027.

Awad stated that, with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, players that do not operate in Brazil have been seeking out PPSA to understand how the auctions work.

"This is a sign that the process is solid and is attracting interest", said the executive.

In 2025, companies such as  Petrobras, Shell, Equinor, Galp, ExxonMobil, Petrochina and Refinaria de Mataripe (Acelen) acquired lots in auctions held by PPSA.  

PPSA is a federal state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME). Its main objective is to maximize the Union’s economic gains in the exploration of oil and natural gas, acting in the management of production sharing contracts and in the commercialization of the oil belonging to the government.

Gas negotiations stalled

Awad said that PPSA has not yet reached an agreement with Petrobras to make possible the natural gas auction that it intends to hold by the end of the year.

According to the executive, the negotiations on the use of the infrastructure for processing have partially advanced, but remain stalled in the case of the gas pipelines. 

The disagreement is related to prices, tariffs, and penalties set out in the contracts. According to Awad, under Petrobras’s current conditions, PPSA’s gas would reach the market without a price reduction.

The state-owned company intends to avoid a new renewal of the contract currently in force with Petrobras, which expires in December, but this depends on access to the oil company’s gas pipelines and processing units. Today, PPSA transfers ownership of the gas to Petrobras on the FPSOs, with the state-owned oil company responsible for transportation and marketing.

(The original version of this content was written in Portuguese)