In a public hearing, ANP did not clarify the criteria used in the distribution of resources

On Wednesday (27), the Committee on Financial Inspection and Control approved the performance of an audit, to be made by the Union’s Audit Tribunal (TCU), on the transfers of royalties made by the National Petroleum Agency (ANP) to states and municipalities.

That measure was approved in the form of the Proposal on Inspection and Control 70/09, from Deputy Manoel Junior (PSB-PB), reported at the committee by Deputy João Dado (PDT-SP). For the congressman from São Paulo, the importance of that subject – “which affects hundreds of unities of the Federation” – justifies that audit.

Without clarification
Manoel Junior highlights that, in a public hearing, ANP has not clarified the criteria used at the resources’ distribution, or the reasons why municipalities with similar characteristics are transferred different amounts.

The royalties are calculated on the field’s monthly production. According to ANP, the amount to be paid by the concessionaires is the result of the multiplication of three factors: royalties’ rate of the producing field, which can go from 5% to 10%; the monthly production of oil and natural gas produced by that field; and the reference price of those hydrocarbons in that specific month.

In addition to royalties, the concessionaires are subject to the payment of a Special Participation – an extraordinary financial compensation established by the Law of Petroleum, for high-volume oil fields or for highly profitable fields, and to the payment for the occupation or retention of a specific area.

Report - Rodrigo Bittar
Editing - Paulo Cesar Santos
Translation - Positive Idiomas Ltda