By Alexandra Alper and Gabriel Stargardter
Shell and Chevron pledged to the government a high 70.2 percent of the oil it produces after costs to clinch the choice Saturno block, while Exxon Mobil Corp and Qatar Petroleum International landed the Tita area with a 24.5 percent offer, with both groups locking in key real estate in the prized Santos basin.
By offering all four blocks, Brazil's cash-strapped government raked in 6.82 billion reais ($1.71 billion), days ahead of the most uncertain presidential vote in a generation, as oil companies scrambled to take advantage of what could be the last oil auction in years.
Leftist candidates have proposed slowing down oil auctions, revising market-friendly legislation or even clawing back areas already awarded. Meanwhile, right-wing presidential front-runner Jair Bolsonaro has floated the idea of privatizing state oil firm Petrobras and has said he would champion a market-friendly approach.
"We take a long term view on these things," said Felipe Arbelaez, chief for Latin America of BP Plc, which took the Santos Basin's Pau Brasil block in a consortium with Colombia's Ecopetrol and China's CNOOC Ltd.
"Ultimately, we think Brazil has a long track record of respect of law, respect of contracts so we're not very concerned about the elections," Arbelaez said.
Lured by world-class geology, shrinking reserves and rising oil prices, companies have already dropped billions of dollars in Brazil, Latin America's top oil producer, to lock in stakes in its pre-salt layer, where billions of barrels of oil are trapped under a thick layer of salt offshore.
Oil majors' interest has been boosted by industry-friendly policies under center-right President Michel Temer, including loosening rules favoring local suppliers, tax sweeteners and the removal of a requirement that Petrobras be sole operator in pre-salt blocks.
Petrobras was the sole bidder and won the Southwest of Tartaruga Verde block in the Campos Basin.
($1 = 4.0235 reais)
(Writing by Alexandra Alper; Additional Reporting by Marta Nogueira and Rodrigo Viga Gaier Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Jeffrey Benkoe)
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)