QGEP Gets Regulator Nod for Santos Buy

Brazil’s Queiroz Galvao Exploracao e Producao (QGEP) has received regulatory approval to proceed with the $157.5m acquisition of Shell’s 30% stake in the BS-4 block in the Santos basin. As agreed, the oil company will become the field’s operator and will join Petrobras (40%) and Barra Energia (30%) as partners in the deal. A QGEP investor relations official says the company used no advisors. So far the company has not yet released the reserve data as it expects to certify the block’s holdings later on this year, the official says. However, the company estimates that the block holds roughly 2bn barrels of post-salt contingent resources and makes a rough assumption of a 16% recovery factor. QGEP officials have made it clear in the past that the company is looking to grow its business through farm-ins and other opportunities that oil companies make available. The newly-acquired block is a promising prospect for potential pre-salt discoveries as it sits close to the Libra and Franco fields.