Aqui do Alto Xiongu, os índios reproduzem notícia, em tom otimista, divulgada pela Bloomberg, acerca dos resultados do leilão realizado hoje. Nenhum sinal do pessimismo trombeteado pelos urubólogos de plantão.

""Petrobras-Led Group Wins Brazil’s Top Prospect; Shares Rally

By Peter Millard & Rodrigo Orihuela -
Oct 21, 2013 4:56 PM

A group led by Petroleo Brasileiro
SA (PETR3) won a license to develop Brazil’s biggest oil discovery under
more favorable terms than analysts estimated. Shares in
Petrobras, as the state-run producer is known, surged.

Petrobras and partners Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Total SA (FP),
Cnooc Ltd. (883) and China National Petroleum Corp., pledged to the
government the minimum 41.65 percent of profit oil, or the
barrels remaining after all costs are covered, to win the 35-year project in deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Bank of
America Corp. said in an Oct. 14 report that profit oil of less
than 50 percent would be seen as beneficial for Petrobras. The
companies will pay a 15 billion-real ($6.9 billion) signing fee.

Libra is the first auction of subsea prospects known as
pre-salt using a production-sharing model that makes Petrobras
the operator of all new projects and requires it to own at least
a 30 percent stake. Brazil increased its control of the oil
industry under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva after
it announced in 2007 the discovery of at least 50 billion
barrels trapped under a layer of salt two miles below the
seabed.

“Given already negative sentiment toward the stock, we
would expect a positive reaction for Petrobras’s stock as long
as profit oil levels offered are not viewed as excessive and its
stake does not go above 40 percent,” Bank of America analysts
Frank McGann and Vicente Falanga Neto said in the report.

Petrobras, which will take a 40 percent stake in the
concession, rose 5.1 percent, the most in two months, to 18.85
reais at 4:21 p.m. in Sao Paulo. The stock is down 15 percent in
the past year compared with a 5 percent drop by Brazil’s
benchmark equity index.

Offshore Platforms

Petrobras, the biggest producer in waters deeper than 1,000
feet, plans to double crude output by 2020 with most of the
gains coming from the pre-salt that contains the biggest
discoveries this century. Libra will require an investment of
400 billion reais over the 35-year concession, which will
include 12 to 15 offshore platforms that will pump more than 1
million barrels a day when fully ramped up, according to the oil
regulator.

The legislation calls for a new state company, Pre-Sal
Petroleo SA, or PPSA, to represent the government with the power
to veto decisions at pre-salt projects, including Libra.

Estimate Doubled

Brazil’s regulator ANP doubled reserve estimates at Libra
to 8 billion to 12 billion barrels on May 23 after CGG Veritas,
a geophysical services company, conducted a study of the first
exploration well. ANP encountered a layer of oil 326 meters deep
at the well and did imaging of the surrounding area. Lula, the
first producing pre-salt field, has estimated reserves of about
6.5 billion barrels.

Petrobras was hired to drill two wells at Libra. The first
was abandoned after problems with well construction.

Today’s auction result is “satisfactory,” although work
is needed, including seismic studies, Andre Araujo, who heads
The Hague-based Shell’s Brazilian operations, told reporters.

For Cnooc and CNPC, Libra represents a shift in strategy to
one of drilling and developing new deposits, after years of
buying into operating fields and more advanced exploration
projects in Latin America.

While only one bid was received, the auction was successful
and the government’s total take from the field, including taxes,
will be about 80 percent, which is one of the highest rates in
the world, Magda Chambriard, who heads the ANP, told reporters.

Total’s relationship with Shell and Petrobras meant forming
the group was “easy” for what was always a strategic asset for
the Paris-based company, country manager Denis Paullat said.
“It’s hard to imagine a team with more expertise than this,”
he said. ""

To contact the reporters on this story:
Peter Millard in Rio de Janeiro at
pmillard1@bloomberg.net;
Rodrigo Orihuela in Rio de Janeiro at
rorihuela@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
James Attwood at
jattwood3@bloomberg.net