Libya Sets Bids Deadline for Three Oil Packages
LONDON, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Libya has set December 31 as a deadline for foreign companies to submit bids for three packaged blocks which are likely to see fairly fierce competition, industry sources said on Thursday.
They said this has ended confusion over what companies were expected to do after viewing relevant technical data relating to the 15 exploration blocks bundled into three packages.
"We've now got a deadline for bids to be submitted, but we still don't have a timetable for what happens next, what form the negotiations will take," said one industry source.
Data rooms opened in July for the packaged blocks, which combine a mixture of prime acreage in oil-rich Murzuk, Sirte and Ghadames basins, and poorly explored high-risk areas, would now close on November 30.
Data rooms for other acreage available in the latest licensing round, consisting of at least an additional 120 blocks, would remain open beyond November.
The sources said less than 20 companies but more than 14 had prequalified to take part in the licensing round which NOC says will open up some 70 percent of its acreage for exploration.
The suspension of United Nations sanctions last year has encouraged oil majors like Royal Dutch/Shell to seek a comeback in Libya after a nine-year absence. The company has said it is in negotiations for some blocks.
"There will probably be stiff competition for the packaged blocks...There are multiple companies interested in them and companies are setting about to form consortiums...," one source said.
With the packages offering both "great and terrible acreage" as one oilman put it, firms are unlikely to want to bid alone.
Package one includes a block in attractive Murzuk basin, two blocks offshore the Mediterranean, a block in the Sirte basin and another in little drilled Kufra basin in the southeast.
Package two comprises a block in Sirte, three in Cyrenaica Basin in the northeastern and one in the Ghadames Basin.
The third consists of two in Sirte, one in Cyrenaica and two offshore close to the Egyptian border to the east.
"The Libyans want their country explored and this is a clever way to see some areas explored which haven't been explored before," said one oil source.
Concerns were beginning to seep in, however, over whether NOC would be able to maintain a transparent round, with some rumours around that some blocks had been already reserved.
"If that is the case, that would completely undermine the process which the Libyans have been saying would be totally transparent," said one source. |
