Shell declined to bid in the offshore round held in April and May but everybody else is piling in (see pages 28&29).
The Petroleum Ministry is now finalising the shape of the successful production sharing groups in the round, which raised a staggering $3.3 billion in signature bonuses.
All the wannabe operators in the three new deep-water licences carved out of the so-called‘golden´blocks 17 and 18 are companies whose respective governments are the majority shareholder: Agip, Total and Petrobras.
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