Low point for upstream

BY MOST measures, Brazil's fifth annual licensing round, held last month, was a disappointment. Comparison with the first four rounds is not straightforward because this year's round was made up of lots of small blocks - previously, a smaller number of much larger blocks have been on offer. However, signature bonuses generated were only around a third of last year's and pale into insignificance next to proceeds from the first three rounds (see Table 1). There were far fewer participants, no foreign majors taking new acreage, only six winning firms in total and only a few blocks received more than a single bid each. Once again, Petrobras dominated proceedings, winning over 80 blocks. Out of 9