- Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) led all big oil firms in today's Brazil's auction of offshore oilfields with bids for eight blocks in partnership with other firms, in an aggressive effort to help replace dwindling reserves.
- XOM, which will operate six of the eight blocks it won today, took 10 blocks in a September round last year and a pre-salt block the following month after having been among the few oil majors without a presence in the exploration of the huge discoveries off the Brazilian coast over the past decade.
- Chevron (NYSE:CVX), which has kept a low profile in Brazil since a spill in 2011, won four blocks, its first acquisitions in the country in five years; Repsol (MC:REP) (OTCQX:REPYF, OTCQX:REPYY), Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSa) (RDS.A, RDS.B), Statoil (NYSE:STO) and BP also won stakes.
- Results exceeded expectations despite an unexpected move by a Brazilian court that removed two of the most attractive blocks in the Santos basin from the round.
- Now read: Statoil: Norway's Oil Supermajor Is A Solid Bet
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