May 20 is the deadline for companies to submit their qualification documents for Brazil's Round 4. Announced by the Agencia Nacional do Petroleo in October 2001, bids from the 31 companies participating in the round are due June 19-20, and the signing of concession agreements is expected by Sept. 20.
Each successful Round 4 bidder will be required to shoot a minimum of 1,000 km of 2D seismic or drill an exploratory well for each block awarded within the first three-year period. Two wells must be drilled during each of the second and third periods.
Information available on all blocks on offer includes data from 577 wells and over 114,000 km of 2D seismic and 152,000 km of 3D seismic.
When ANP modified the concession agreement for Round 4, it extended the period to declare the marketability of heavy oil findings in ultra-deepwater for five years. The agreement now can only be terminated after the bid winner completes the deactivation plan and abandons the facilities.
Twenty-one of the blocks are in 0 to 400-meter water depths, and two of the basins are considered frontier, where there is less geological knowledge and greater prospecting risk. Offshore areas up for bid are two blocks in the Barreirinhas basin, one in the Camamu-Almada basin, six in the Campos basin, two in the Cumuruxatiba basin, five in the Espirito Santo basin, two in Foz do Amazonas basin, two in Jequitinhonha basin, three in Para-Maranhao basin, one in Pelotas basin, one in Pernambuco-Paraiba basin, five in Potiguar basin, eight in Santos basin, and two in Sergipe-Alagoas basin. Brazil's highest producing single well, the Marlim Sul 42-H in the Campos basin, is in 1,220 meters water depth and produces 37,000 b/d.
ANP awarded 67 blocks of 103 blocks on offer through Rounds 1, 2, and 3. During the first three rounds, bids went to six Brazilian companies and 27 companies outside Brazil.
