The National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP), the sector’s regulator, announced Monday (Apr. 6) that the upcoming pre-salt auction will feature 23 exploration blocks.

The confirmation came through an update to the notice for the Permanent Production Sharing Offer (OPP). The auction initially included eight blocks, and on March 27, the ANP board added 15 more.

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All areas are located in the so-called Pre-Salt Polygon, off the coast of the Southeast region, with eight in the Campos Basin and 13 in the Santos Basin.

According to ANP, all exploration blocks have received a favorable environmental feasibility opinion from the competent agencies, as well as a joint statement from the Ministry of Mines and Energy and the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

With the publication of the notice listing the 23 areas, the blocks are now eligible to receive expressions of interest from oil companies, along with the corresponding bid bonds.

Upon receiving an expression of interest from one or more registered companies for one or more blocks in the notice, ANP may set the auction date.

Permanent Offer

The Permanent Offer is the primary bidding mechanism for oil and natural gas exploration and production in Brazil. According to ANP, unlike traditional bidding rounds, this system allows for the continuous offering of exploration blocks.

Thus, over time, companies are free to study the technical data of the areas and submit bids whenever they deem most appropriate, without being bound by strict deadlines or specific bidding cycles.

“This flexibility has made the Permanent Offer an essential tool for fostering competitiveness and attracting investment in Brazil’s oil and gas sector,” the regulatory agency reiterated.

Production sharing and concession

Permanent offers can be structured as either concessions or production-sharing agreements. The production-sharing model is used in the pre-salt layer, where Brazil’s largest known oil reserves are located, as well as in other areas deemed strategic by the National Energy Policy Council (CNPE), a multi-ministerial advisory body to the Brazilian government.

Under the production-sharing regime, the company or consortium that wins the auction pays a fixed signing bonus. However, it is not this bonus that determines the winner; rather, the auction is decided by the share of production surplus the operator offers to the state. Each block has a required minimum percentage.

This surplus, which must be shared with the state, can be understood as the profit from production after all costs have been covered.

In addition, the country receives taxes, royalties, and a special share in the case of high-production fields.

Under the production-sharing regime, the state’s interests are represented by the state-owned company Pré-Sal Petróleo (PPSA), headquartered in Rio de Janeiro and affiliated with the Ministry of Mines and Energy. PPSA is responsible for auctioning the oil delivered to the state by the operating companies.

In contrast, under concession contracts - used in other exploration areas - the winner is the company or consortium that offers the highest signature bonus for the right to explore for oil.

Oil and natural gas production in Brazil reached a record high in February 2026, according to a report released on Wednesday (Apr. 1) by the National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas, and Biofuels (ANP).

A total of 5.304 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) - a measure that includes both oil and natural gas - were produced. The previous record was set in October 2025, at 5.255 million boe/d.

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Considering only oil, 4.061 million barrels were extracted per day - a 2.7 percent increase from the previous month and a 16.4 percent rise from the same month in 2025.

Natural gas production in February stood at 197.63 million cubic meters per day (m³/d), representing a 2.3 percent growth from January and a 24.5 percent expansion from February 2025.

Production came from 6,079 wells, 582 of which were offshore and 5,497 onshore. Offshore fields accounted for 98 percent of the country’s oil production and 87.8 percent of its natural gas output.

Fields operated by Petrobras, either alone or in consortium with other companies, accounted for 89.46 percent of total production.

Pre-salt production

The pre-salt layer accounted for 80.2 percent of Brazilian production, totaling 4.243 million boe/d in February. This represented a 2.3 percent increase from the previous month and a 20.1 percent rise from the same month in 2025.

A total of 3.264 million bbl/d of oil and 155.56 million m³/d of natural gas was extracted from 181 wells in the pre-salt layer.

The Tupi Field, in the Santos Basin, was the country’s largest producer of both oil and natural gas, with output of 865,980 barrels per day and 42.87 million m³/d.