On 9 October 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) held the second half of the 13th Auction of Exploration Blocks.

Three AAPG Student Chapters, the Pampa Chapter at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre; the Universidade Estatal do Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro and the Universidade Federal de Sergipe in Aracaju worked together to show a live broadcast of the auction while serving popcorn and soda. Each chapter gathered students to watch and discuss about the auction along with a professor knowledgeable about the subject.

In the beginning of the meeting, students from the Pampa Chapter had discussion led by Prof. Julian Kuchle regarding the rules of participation and scores that is needed to be able to enter a bid for an exploration block. We also discussed about the history of some participating O&G companies, and in this case, participation of only small companies (medium) size due to political instability in the country and the low price of oil. The main goal of this activity was the understanding of an auction of exploration blocks and knowing about what companies that will be operating in the Brazilian market in the coming years.

ANP offered 266 blocks divided into 22 sectors, belonging to 10 sedimentary basins, and 36 oil and gas companies participated. At the end of the auction, only 14 percent of the blocks (37 of 266) were sold by 17 companies, 11 of which were Brazilian. There was no participation of major companies such as Petrobras, Shell and ExxonMobil. The basins that contain acquired blocks are: Parnaíba Basin, Potiguar Basin, Sergipe-Alagoas Basin and Recôncavo Basin, and the ones with the most acquired blocks were the Parnaíba Basin and the Recôncavo Basin. The Parnaíba Basin, according to the ANP, obtained in May 2015 a production of 2.7 million cubic meters per day of natural gas. The Recôncavo Basin, according to the ANP, is classified as mature basin, in other words, t is in an advanced stage of exploration, being consecrated producer of hydrocarbons, especially light oil.

Basins that did not receive any offers were: Camamu Basin, Almada Basin, Espírito Santo Basin, Campos Basin, Amazonas Basin, Pelotas Basin and Jacuípe Basin. The three shallow water blocks offered in the Campos Basin found themselves out of pre-salt polygon defined by Petrobras. As for the blocks offered in the Espírito Santo Basin, they were in deep water, which implies a high cost of operation.

The auction did not meet ANP expectations, which hoped up to R $ 978.77 million in signing bonuses, and received just R$ 121,109,596.73. This may be due to Brazil’s current economic crisis and the low oil price, which leads companies to invest in blocks most likely to have profits and lower operating costs. (Only 2 of the 37 blocks acquired are underwater). In addition, the absence of large companies may have been encouraged by the absence of Petrobras, the locomotive of Brazil’s oil exploration and production.