By Brazil Stock Guide – PetroChina (HKEX: 0857), CNOOC (HKEX: 0883) and Petrobras (B3: PETR4; NYSE: PBR) acquired a combined 3 million barrels of crude from Brazil’s Búzios offshore field in the country’s 10th spot auction of government-owned oil, securing most of the volume initially offered.
The auction, organized by state-run Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA), offered approximately 4.5 million barrels, according to a statement released Thursday. Three of the five lots were awarded, with the remaining two deferred to a future sale.
PetroChina purchased the first lot, consisting of 1 million barrels produced by the P-79 platform. CNOOC acquired another 1 million barrels from the Almirante Tamandaré floating production, storage and offloading vessel, known as an FPSO.
Petrobras secured the third lot, comprising two 500,000-barrel cargoes from the P-75 and P-77 platforms, bringing its total acquisition to 1 million barrels.
All four awarded cargoes are scheduled for loading in the first half of December.
Two oil cargo lots postponed
PPSA deferred the fourth and fifth lots, associated with the P-76 platform and the Almirante Barroso FPSO, respectively. Those shipments had originally been scheduled for the second half of December.
The postponed lots account for approximately 1.5 million barrels based on the volume initially offered and the amount awarded. PPSA said the cargoes would be made available at a subsequent auction but did not announce a new date.
Five other international energy companies participated in the bidding process: ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), Galp Energia (Euronext Lisbon: GALP), PRIO (B3: PRIO3), TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE) and Equinor (NYSE: EQNR).
Bids were referenced against Dated Brent, a widely used international benchmark for physical crude oil transactions. Price offers were opened in real time during an online meeting attended by representatives of the participating companies.
Brazil’s pre-salt oil commercialization
The transaction forms part of Brazil’s system for marketing crude oil belonging to the federal government under production-sharing agreements.
PPSA, a state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, represents the federal government in production-sharing contracts and manages the commercialization of its entitled share of oil and natural gas.
The Búzios field, located in Brazil’s offshore pre-salt region, supplies the crude sold in the latest auction. The December loading schedule and the postponement of two lots will determine when the remaining volumes return to the government’s spot sales process.
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