Fifteen companies have pre-registered for Brazil’s third auction of oil exploration rights in the pre-salt area while ten companies have expressed interest in the second round, oil regulator ANP said on Monday. ANP told Reuters that all the companies were oil majors. The two auctions will take place on Oct. 27. Through production sharing contracts, firms will be able to bid on eight blocks in the Santos and Campos basins in the pre-salt area, where hydrocarbons are trapped under thick layers of salt beneath the ocean floor. The fields are considered among Brazil’s most prized energy assets. Those already under production are showing above-average productivity. The companies had a deadline of Sept. 8 to fill out an initial form expressing interest in the bidding process, but […]