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Petrobras puts Pará-Maranhão exploration blocks up for sale

Petrobras continues to expand its 2020-2024 divestment plan, adding four exploration and production assets since the start of the year. This time around, it was two exploration blocks in the highly prospective Pará-Maranhão Basin [1], which displays major similarities to the huge equatorial margin discoveries off the coasts of Guyana and Suriname further to the north.

Petrobras plans to sell its 100% stake in the BM-PAMA-3 concession and its 80% stake in BM-PAMA-8. Chinese state-run oil company Sinopec will retain its 20% stake in BM-PAMA-8 and could exercise its preferential right to buy the Petrobras stake, according to the teaser.

Petrobras previously put the Golfinho and Camarupim fields in the Espirito Santo Basin [2] up for sale in January, then this week also put its 62.5% operating stake in the deep-water Papa-Terra field of the Campos Basin [3] on the auction block. Chevron also agreed to tag along and sell its 37.5% minority stake, the company said late Monday.

HARPIA DISCOVERY

The BM-PAMA-3 concession is currently in the discovery evaluation phase, with Petrobras studying the Harpia find, the company said. Under the terms of the existing concession contract, potential investors will need to commit to drilling a single well, with a formation test contingent on the results.

As for the the BM-PAMA-8 concession, it is divided into the PAMA-M-192 and PAMA-M-194 blocks. The concession is currently in the second exploration phase, with the winning bidders required to commit to drilling a single well in the PAMA-M-192 block.

Interested bidders must qualify as A-level operators under the criteria established by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP). The deadline for submitting qualification documents and confidentiality agreements is February 28.

Source: Petrobras