Brazil reaps reforms rewards
Efforts to recalibrate oil concession rules to be more market-friendly and open to foreign investment are starting to bear fruit
A record-breaking offshore auction in Brazil last week that attracted $2.4bn in pledges underlined progress the country's oil sector has made since a regulatory overhaul was launched to repair its international image. The bidding round on 29 March drew in the largest revenues in the country's history, with 13 companies from 11 countries taking part in the offshore round alone. ExxonMobil, along with Petrobras and Qatar Petroleum, spent $844m on a single block in the Campos basin, while Chevron, Repsol, Shell, BP and Statoil (soon to become Equinor) all spent big on others. "The auction surpassed all expectations. We had diversity of operators, geographical diversity and extraordinary bonuses
Also in this section
25 April 2024
Some companies with assets in Israel have turned towards Egypt as tensions escalate, but others are holding firm despite rising tensions
24 April 2024
But even planned exploration activity is unlikely to reverse declining output from mature fields
23 April 2024
Cheaper Russian barrels and lower overall crude prices have helped cut key oil consumer’s import bills in election year
22 April 2024
Pursuing three different goals as part of the same package may mean achieving none of them