On June 13, 2019, the National Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels Agency (the "ANP") published the preliminary tender protocol ("Pre-Tender") of the Transfer of Rights Surplus Bidding Round under the production sharing regime ("Bidding Round") whose purpose is to establish the applicable rules and procedures for participating in the bid, as well as making available the drafts of the production sharing agreements, the preliminary schedule and other relevant information about the areas offered.

The Bidding Round will offer four blocks in the Santos Basin (Atapu, Búzios, Itapu e Sépia). Petrobras has preferential rights to be the operator with a minimum 30 percent participating interest in the Búzios and Itapu blocks.

The Pre-Tender established the following amount for Signature Bonuses and Minimum Percentages of Surplus Oil for the blocks offered:

Block

Signature Bonus (BRL)

Minimum Percentage of Surplus Oil (%)

Atapu

13,742 billion

26.23

Búzios

68,194 billion

23.24

Itapu

1,766 billion

18.15

Sépia

22,859 billion

27.88

The technical data package is already available, and interested bidders must (i) fill out the electronic registration form; (ii) submit the confidentiality agreement; and (iii) pay the participation fee, in accordance with the specific sector of interest. Also, for this Bidding Round, an additional package containing technical data selected by Petrobras was made available, and interested bidders must follow the procedure described above and submit the registration documents set forth in the Pre-Tender document (such as the company's corporate documents and evidence of authority of its legal representatives or attorneys-in-fact).

The Transfer of Rights Surplus Bidding Round will follow the schedule below:

Event

Date

Publication of the pre-tender protocol and draft of the production sharing agreement.

June 13, 2019
Commencement of the period for delivery of documentation of expression of interest, qualification, and payment of the participation fee.

June 13, 2019

Technical data package and additional technical data package  become available.

June 13, 2019

Deadline for comments on the pre-tender protocol and the draft of the production sharing agreement and end of the public consultation period.

July 03, 2019

Public hearing (city of Rio de Janeiro).

July 05, 2019

Technical seminar.

To be defined

Publication of pre-tender protocol and draft of the production sharing agreement.

September 06, 2019

Environmental and fiscal-legal seminars.

To be defined

Deadline for delivery of documentation of expression of interest, qualification, and payment of participation fee.

September 23, 2019

Deadline to present the bid guarantees.

October 23, 2019

Public session for the presentation of bids.

November 06, 2019

Awarding and ratification of the bidding procedure.

By November 18, 2019

Deadline for submitting documents related to (i) the execution of the production sharing agreements; (ii) the additional bid guarantee, as applicable; and (iii) the qualification of the affiliate appointed to execute the contract, as the case may be.

By December 27, 2019

Deadline for payment of the signing bonus and sending of proof of payment.

By December 27, 2019

Execution of the production sharing agreement.

By March 31, 2020

The pre-tender protocol and the draft of the production sharing agreement—with and without the participation of Petrobras—are available at ANP's webpage (in Portuguese only). All documents will be under public consultation until July 03, 2019, so that contributions may be made by both the industry and the general public.

Also, in the context of the Transfer of Rights, we wish to advise that on June 13, 2019, the National Energy Policy Council (the "CNPE") published the Resolution No. 13/2019 amending Resolution No. 02/2019 and changing certain guidelines relating to the reimbursement to be paid by the contractor to Petrobras, due to the investments made in the bidding areas.

We will continue to monitor the development of the Transfer of Rights Surplus Bidding Round, and will keep you posted through our legal updates.

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This Mayer Brown article provides information and comments on legal issues and developments of interest. The foregoing is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject matter covered and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should seek specific legal advice before taking any action with respect to the matters discussed herein.