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Friday, April 19, 2024 4:26 GMT
QatarEnergy has won a key participating interest in Brazil’s Agua Marinha offshore block, which was offered by the country’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP). The Qatari giant on Monday confirmed the award and said the block was awarded under the first cycle permanent offer round by Brazil’s ANP. “Under the terms of the production sharing contract and associated agreements, QatarEnergy will hold a 20% working interest, alongside the operator Petrobras (30%), TotalEnergies (30%) and Petronas (20%),” it noted.The Agua Marinha block is spread across 1,300 square kilometers and located in water depths of about 2,000 meters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the prolific Campos Basin, QatarEnergy said. The state energy giant has been expanding its international portfolio over the years, picking up stakes in South American and North African upstream assets.A consortium comprising TotalEnergies, Petronas and QatarEnergy earlier submitted the winning bid for the Agua Marinha area, offering a profit oil share for the federal government of 42.4% - defeating the proposal of 39.5% made by Petrobras and Shell, Upstream reported.However, as Petrobras months ago had exercised its preferential rights for Agua Marinha with a minimum 30% stake the Brazilian state-controlled company had a 30-minute window to decide whether or not to join the higher-bidding consortium and take over as operator. Petrobras opted to enter the winning consortium, grabbing its 30% operatorship at Agua Marinha.Saad Sherida Al Kaabi, chief executive of QatarEnergy said the latest successful joint bid, adds further “highly prospective acreage” to its upstream portfolio in Brazil, particularly in the prolific Campos Basin. “We are delighted to achieve this success with our valued partners Petrobras, TotalEnergies and Petronas,” he stated.Petronas vice president of exploration, Mohd Redhani Abdul Rahman said: “We are truly thrilled by the favorable outcome of the bid round. This success demonstrates our competitive edge in sustainably developing and monetizing assets in the Campos basin. “Petronas remains focused to unlock more value from the assets with its partners alongside the host authorities,” he added.QatarEnergy noted the acquisition is expected to close in the first half of 2023, and further establishes the company as one of the leading upstream players in Brazil, where it already holds working interests in two producing fields and numerous exploration blocks.Petronas’ subsidiary, Petronas Petroleo Brasil (PPBL) recently announced the first oil discovery with the 4-BRSA-1386D-RJS well in the pre-salt Sepia oilfield in the Santos basin. It has a 21% participating interest in the field. PPBL also holds participating interests in the Tartaruga Verde (BM-C-36 Concession) and Module III of the Espadarte (Espadarte Concession) deep-water fields, as well as three deep-water exploration blocks - C-M-541, C-M-661 and C-M-715 - in Brazil's Campos basin.