Brazil Awards Offshore Oil Production Blocks in Campos, Santos Basins

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)

Summary
Brazil's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels awarded five offshore blocks to national and international companies. Equinor strengthened its position in Brazil, while CNOOC grew its portfolio.

Brazil's National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) awarded two offshore oil blocks in the Santos basin, and another three in the Campos basin in the third cycle of the open acreage auction.

All blocks are in pre-salt areas and will generate signing bonuses of 103 million reais (US$19.2 million). Projected exploration investments across the five projects in their first phase is estimated at 451.5 million reais. (some US$83.8 million).

A total of eight operating companies submitted their bids for the blocks.

The winners of this round were:
The contracts for the auction will be signed on May 29, 2026, with Karoon Energy Limited (Victoria, Australia) and China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) (Beijing, China) becoming new entrants to Brazil's production-sharing system.

Brazil is attracting international attention as its energy sector grows rapidly due to pre-salt discoveries. With progress in the Santos and Campos basins, Brazil has become South America's largest producer, nearing 4 million barrels per day (BBL/d).

Companies Boost Interests in Brazil
Equinor (Stavanger, Norway), which secured two blocks in this round, announced the production startup of its 220,000-BBL/d floating production storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) at the Bacalhau offshore block in the Santos Basin. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Oil & Gas Production Project Database can click here for a list of detailed project reports.

Equinor also operates the ultra-deep Raia block, which is expected to come online in 2028.

For China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) (Beijing), Ametista is its second block with a majority stake, after its full ownership of Block 592 in the Espiritu Santos Basin, where it is exploring for oil. CNOOC also has minority stakes in Alto de Cabo Oeste (20%), Pau Brasil (30%), and the prolific Mero block (10%).

Meanwhile, Karoon already operates the Bauna complex, which produces roughly 18,000 BBL/d.

Finally, Petrobras Brazil's state energy company, is by far the largest oil producer and operator in the country with an output of 3.5 million BBL/d.

Key Takeaways

• Five of the seven offshore blocks were awarded.
• Equinor, CNOOC, and Karoon expand their portfolio in Brazil.
• ANP expects exploration investments in phase I of US$83.8 million across the blocks.

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