LatinNews Daily - 18 June 2025

*Brazil’s federal oil and gas regulator (ANP) has held an auction for oil exploration concessions and granted 34 oil blocks to nine companies, with total investments for the exploration phase estimated at R$1.46bn (US$264m). The blocks are in one onshore basin and three offshore basins in different parts of the country. The onshore basin is the Parecis Basin, which spans the central-western state of Mato Grosso and the northern state of Rondônia, while the three offshore basins are Santos, near Brazil’s south-eastern coastline; Pelotas, off the southern coast; and Foz do Amazonas, near the mouth of the Amazon River. Of the nine companies that were granted concessions, two were Brazilian – the state-controlled oil firm Petrobras and the oil and gas subsidiary of Brazilian holding company Dillianz. The remaining concessions were granted to the Brazilian subsidiaries of US oil giants ExxonMobil and Chevron; Chinese state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC); British oil company Shell; Portuguese energy firm Petrogal; Australian company Karoon; and Norwegian firm Equinor. The ANP’s auctions faced severe criticism from environmental groups, with international NGO Greenpeace releasing a statement highlighting that 19 of the 47 oil blocks around the Amazon Delta were auctioned off yesterday, posing risks to the sensitive marine ecosystems of the equatorial margin and undermining Brazil’s green credentials on the world stage.

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