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Brazil oil and gas exploration regulatory developments

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2026-09-03 17:26 UTC → 2026-09-05 06:10 UTC · added ~~removed~~

Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP) is preparing for two major oil-exploration auctions on 7 October. These include the 4th Production Sharing Cycle, featuring 13 pre-salt blocks, and the 6th Concession Cycle, covering 22 sectors. As of late August, 12 firms had submitted declarations of interest for the concession sectors and six for the pre-salt blocks. The auction list includes a block in the Tacutu basin on the Brazil-Guyana border that overlaps with nine indigenous lands. In a separate legal development, Judge Manoel Pedro Martins de Castro Filho of the 6th Federal Civil Court of the Distrito Federal issued a definitive suspension on the offering of 18 exploration blocks in the Potiguar, Sergipe-Alagoas, and Espírito Santo basins. The ruling, following a lawsuit by the Instituto Internacional Arayara, found that these blocks overlap with conservation units, ecological corridors, and high-biodiversity territories. The court mandated that no new bidding rounds for these blocks occur until technical and environmental regularity is proven by agencies such as Ibama and ICMBio. The ANP intends to appeal, noting these blocks are not part of the October 7 cycle and that bidding does not grant automatic exploration authorization. ~~Additionally, the ANP is seeking to expand its regulatory oversight. A~~ To combat tax evasion and organized crime, a proposal approved by the Infrastructure Commission (CI) would grant the ~~agency~~ ANP access to electronic tax invoices from regulated ~~agents to combat tax evasion and organized crime within the fuel sector.~~ agents. Under this proposal, granting regulated activities would be conditioned upon permanent authorization for the ANP to access this fiscal information. Looking further ahead, the Brazilian government’s budget bill submitted to Congress includes plans for a special pre-salt oil auction in 2027. This auction is projected to collect R$ 22.4 billion by selling a portion of the Union’s future oil production rights, a move considered essential for meeting the administration's primary surplus targets.

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