Brazil's ANP Opposes Subsalt Oil Rights Sale until 2016

Brazil's oil regulator the ANP won't recommend the sale of new production-sharing contracts in the country's promising offshore subsalt region until at least 2016, the agency's chief told Reuters on Friday.

The agency will also recommend that Brazil wait until 2015 to sell traditional concession contracts for less-promising oil exploration rights in other parts of the country, Magda Chambriard, the ANP's general director said.

The subsalt region off the coast of Rio de Janeiro is home to giant new offshore oil discoveries trapped far beneath the seabed by a layer of salt. It is also home to 80 percent of Brazil's current output. Under a 2010 law, all future exploration in the region will be done on production-sharing contracts with the Brazilian government rather than concessions.

(By Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)