A QatarEnergy consortium has entered into a production sharing agreement with the Brazilian government related to surplus volume rights of the world class Sépia oil field in Brazil.

The Production Sharing Contract, and other key agreements, were signed in Brasilia, during a special ceremony hosted by the Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy. Pursuant to the signed agreements, QatarEnergy will hold a 21% interest along with its consortium partners Petrobras (30% and Operator), TotalEnergies (28%), and Petronas (21%).

This signing follows the award of the Sépia surplus volume rights to the consortium at the conclusion of the second transfer of rights surplus bidding round on 17 December 2021, held by Brazil’s National Agency of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels (ANP).

In remarks on this occasion, His Excellency Mr. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy, said, 
"We are delighted to reach this important milestone and close Sepia’s key definitive agreements. We look forward to working with our partners Petrobras, TotalEnergies and Petronas to progress the next phase of development. I would like to express my sincere thanks and gratitude to His Excellency Mr. Bento Albuquerque, the Minister of Mines and Energy of Brazil, for his support and to all teams form our consortium partners for their hard work and dedication over the past few months, which allowed us to celebrate this important landmark of the start of a new long-term partnership."

Located in water depths of about 2,000 meters off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the prolific Santos Basin, Sépia is a multibillion-barrel, pre-salt oil field. Production from the Sépia field started in August 2021 through a dedicated floating production, storage, and offloading unit (FPSO) and plans are underway to increase the overall production capacity with a second FPSO.

This deal further establishes QatarEnergy as one of the leading upstream players in Brazil, where it holds working interests in numerous exploration and production assets.