Brazil-focused Australian oil firm Karoon Energy has updated its 2025 guidance after winning access to six of 33 oil and natural gas exploration blocks awarded by Brasilia.
The Melbourne-based company secured 100pc interests in the Santos basin blocks offshore Brazil which will be formally granted in October-December, Karoon said.
The firm's 2025 capital expenditure guidance has increased to $120-140mn from a previous $105-125mn to incorporate bid bonuses and a financial guarantees owing.
"The terms of the bid included a bonus payment of approximately $14.8mn in total plus a minimum work program of $20.2mn, to be undertaken within seven years of the formal award of the blocks. The bids did not include well commitments on any of the blocks," chief executive Julian Fowles said on 18 June.
Two of the blocks include the Piracuca discovery, which Karoon said could be tied back to its proposed Neon development, while four deepwater blocks represent a strategic move for Karoon to consolidate its position in the area.
State-controlled Petrobras and Spanish-Chinese joint venture Repsol-Sinopec returned the shallow-water Piracuca field to domestic oil regulator ANP in 2017, after determining the acreage was not commercially viable.
