Brazil's ANP Qualifies 47 for 10th Round of Auction

By Jeff Fick, Dow Jones Newswires

Brazil's National Petroleum Agency qualified 47 companies to participate in the country's 10th round auction for exploration and production concessions, the agency said late Thursday.

According to the ANP, 47 of the 52 companies that applied to participate in the auction were approved. That represents the second-highest number ever, behind only the 62 companies that qualified for the ninth round concession auction held last year.

The 10th round auction, which will feature concessions for only inland exploration and production blocks, will be held Dec. 18-19 in Rio de Janeiro.

The ANP said that 30 Brazilian companies and 17 foreign companies were qualified.

In Brazil, local oil heavyweights state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro ( PBR) and OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA (OGXP3.BR) were qualified to participate.

Foreign companies that qualified included Anadarko Petroleum, Devon Energy, Hess Corp., Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA) and BP PLC. Also approved were Angola's state oil company Sonangol, as well as Portugal's Petrogal.

The ANP will auction off 130 exploration and production blocks in seven sedimentary basins. Premiums for the blocks were expected to range between 61, 000 Brazilian reals ($29,020) and BRL480,000, generating total revenue of at least BRL240 million.

Brazil's government has faced some criticism ahead of the 10th round concession auction because no offshore blocks in the promising subsalt region will be included. The offshore blocks have been removed from concession auctions until the country's new regulatory model is confirmed.

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