en.Wedoany.com Reported - Pré-Sal Petróleo SA (PPSA) plans to hold its sixth long-term auction on the B3 exchange on August 26, involving an estimated oil volume of 106.5 million barrels. Samir Awad, PPSA's Director of Administration, Finance, and Commercialization, revealed this information in advance during a panel discussion at the Argus Rio Crude Conference on May 19.
As production from pre-salt fields accelerates, the estimated volume may be revised upward. Awad stated after the conference that the oil volume assessment could be adjusted to 115 million barrels, and possibly even reach 117 million barrels. This auction will offer cargoes from the Mero, Itapu, Atapu, Sépia, Búzios, and Bacalhau fields. Prior to this, PPSA will organize its sixth spot sale on June 3, expected to sell 1.5 million barrels.
The rapid growth in the federal government's oil share stems from rising oil prices, which have triggered the producers' cost recovery threshold earlier than anticipated. Once this point is reached, the federal government's oil share becomes the full percentage agreed upon in the production sharing auction. In the Búzios and Mero fields, which contribute the majority of PPSA's oil volume, the federal government's participation shares are 23.24% and 41.65%, respectively. Awad explained that Mero triggered the threshold this month, and the federal government's share in Mero will increase in two months; the situation in Búzios is even more significant, as the federal government's share will increase nearly tenfold once cost recovery is achieved.
Rising oil prices have also boosted the revenue PPSA generates for the federal government. According to Awad, the full-year revenue forecast for 2026 was R$22 billion, but by May, that amount may have already approached R$18 billion, depending on the final production figures for the month. He stated that, depending on oil prices, revenue could easily reach R$30 billion to R$35 billion remitted to the state. In addition to rising oil prices, a more than 50% increase in federal government production volume has also contributed to revenue growth: PPSA delivered 53 million barrels in 2025, while this year it expects to deliver 82 million barrels. Another relevant factor is revenue from unitization agreements. Awad indicated that unitization revenue is not included in the budget because it depends on reaching agreements and receiving payments; PPSA received nearly R$1.4 billion not only from the Tupi field but also from the Sapinhoá field.
Regarding the federal government's natural gas auction originally scheduled for late 2025 but not yet held, Samir Awad stated that PPSA and Petrobras failed to reach an agreement on gas offtake due to a deadlock over prices, tariffs, and penalties. Greater progress has been made in negotiations on gas processing, but pricing issues remain unresolved. PPSA plans to renew processing contracts to strive for an agreement on offtake and ultimately hold the auction. Awad downplayed the auction's failure to occur, noting that the previously announced goal was to lower coastal natural gas supply prices, which was the government's top priority. However, given the current costs of natural gas infrastructure, PPSA's landed gas price cannot be characterized as a price reduction, so the government's objective could not be met in the first place. He also pointed out that the volume of natural gas PPSA can offer is insufficient to trigger a 'supply shock': the company currently produces about 300,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day, while national daily consumption is 50 million cubic meters. Although it has reached considerable scale in oil production, PPSA's natural gas output will not alter the domestic gas sales landscape. PPSA's natural gas production is expected to rise to approximately 3 million cubic meters per day around 2029.
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