By Luciano Costa
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - An auction of oil by the Brazilian government from coveted offshore pre-salt fields has only attracted the interest of one bidder, Royal Dutch Shell Plc (L:RDSa), a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The auction, scheduled for May 30, is the first time the government will sell its share of oil in the pre-salt, where billions of barrels of crude are trapped beneath a thick layer of salt under the ocean floor.
Shell confirmed in a statement that it has registered to bid in the auction.
The oil will come from three pre-salt areas, including the Mero area, which is located in the Libra field of the Santos basin. The rest will come from the Sapinhoa field in the Campos basin and the Lula field in the Santos basin.
Brazilian rules dictate that companies vying for stakes in the prolific pre-salt must bid by promising a share of oil production to the government. But rules laying out how the government must sell its share took many months to approve.