Oman to offer 5 blocks in 2017 Licensing Round
UPSTREAM BOOST: New bid round to be launched in September, says Ministry of Oil & Gas
As many as five oil and gas blocks will be offered for investment in the 2017 Oman Licensing Round due to open in September, the Ministry of Oil & Gas has announced.
The acreage is part of a substantial portfolio of open blocks that will be offered up over the coming years, the ministry said in an advisory to prospective local and international upstream investors ahead of the launch of the latest bidding round.
“The Oman Ministry of Oil & Gas is pleased to announce 2017 licensing bid round,” the advisory said. “Available blocks, registration and bidding will commence in September 2017. There are currently over 10 open blocks and they will be tendered over the next few years, providing some excellent exploration opportunities. In the next bid round in September 2017, 4-5 blocks will be tendered,” it stated.
Interested investors have been invited to register their interest in participating in the bid round. In conjunction with the launch, a ‘Living Data Room’ will be opened, offering online tools for browsing and visualising block data with an easy-touse web interface offering the ability to access the data from any location world-wide.
Significantly, investor interest in the Sultanate’s upstream oil and gas industry has remained strong despite the global downturn unleashed by the decline in international crude oil prices in 2014. In May, a partnership of Italian energy giant ENI and the wholly Omani government upstream player Oman Oil Company E&P (OOCEP) was awarded Block 52, a massive 90.790 sq km offshore concession located off the Sultanate’s southeastern and southern seaboard.
Block 52 was one of four hydrocarbon blocks offered by the Ministry as part of the 2016 Oman Licensing Bid Round. Further Exploration & Production Sharing Agreements (EPSAs) linked to the remaining three blocks are likely to be signed before the end of this year. Up for grabs are Blocks 30 and 31, which are predominantly gas blocks onshore Oman, and block 49, an oil block also onshore Oman.
Also underscoring the strength of interest in the sector, OOCEP, the upstream arm of wholly governmentowned energy investment firm Oman Oil Company (OOC), has also roped in energy majors Shell and Occidental as partners in the development of some of expanding portfolio of hydrocarbon assets.