SAO PAULO, June 26 (Reuters) - Petrobras on

Thursday acquired two of the most coveted lots in an oil auction

held by Brazil's state-run PPSA, securing a total of 31.5

million barrels of oil from the Mero field, located in the

country's pre-salt region.

Norways's Equinor ( EQNR ) secured 14 million barrels of

oil from the same field in the auction, while a consortium

between Galp and ExxonMobil ( XOM ) purchased another

14 million barrels.

PPSA is responsible for selling the portion of oil that

companies producing under sharing contracts in pre-salt

oilfields must hand over to the government under Brazilian law.