Brazil raises $71 mn in gas exploration auction

Rio de Janeiro – The Brazilian government Thursday raised $71 million in revenue by auctioning a series of natural gas exploration blocks around the country, authorities said.

The National Petroleum Agency announced that 240 onshore exploration blocks in 10 states were auctioned, reported Xinhua.

However, only 72 of the blocks found bidders from a total of 12 companies registered to participate in the auction, said the agency in a statement.

Brazil’s oil and gas giant Petrobras won most of the bids, taking 49 of the 72 blocks sold.

Brazil currently holds natural gas reserves of 460 billion cubic metres, and produces an average of 70.7 million cubic metres of natural gas per day.

However, if the estimated capacity of the auctioned blocks and the country’s pre-salt oil reserves are confirmed, the output could reach 120 million cubic metres per day by 2020.