DILI, 05 march 2022 (TATOLI) – The Government of Timor-Leste, through the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral (MoPM) has officially opened the Bid Submission for the Timor-Leste 2nd Oil and Gas Licensing Round period 2019/2022.
At the opening ceremony of the Bid Submission for the Timor-Leste Second Licensing Round, MoPM announced seven oil and gas companies who bid for the exploration of the oil and gas in nine blocks out of the 18 blocks announced in october 2019.
These seven companies included Dubai’s ‘Dravida Petroleum DMCC’, Italian multinational oil and gas company ‘Eni’, Local Oil and Gas Company ‘Esperansa Timor Oan (ETO), Kazakhstani HTS Exploration Ltd, Australian ‘Santos Ltd’, Dutch ‘Supernova Energy B.V’ and State-owned company ‘Timor-Gap, E.p’.
The winner of the Bid will be announced on april 15, 2022. The Bidding Application for Timor-Leste Second Licensing Round was closed on march 4, 2022, at 4.30 pm local time.
In his opening remarks, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral, Victor da Conceição Soares stressed that the diversification of investment in the oil and gas sector was crucial for Timor-Leste’s social-economic development.
“MoPM would continue to attract more foreign investors to invest in Timor-Leste’s petroleum sector,” Minister Soares said at the opening ceremony of the Bid Submission for the Timor-Leste Second Licensing Round, at Novo Turismo hotel in Dili, on friday.
At the same place, Mateus da Costa, the Director for Acreage Release and Promotion of ANPM said of the 18 blocks, Dravida Petroleum DMCC bade for Block N, Eni bade for block P, ETO bade for block F and B, HTS Exploration LTD bade for block F, Santos and Supernova Energy B.V bade for block R, and Timor-Gap, E.p bade for block A and F.
He said those companies with good programs would be selected to start the exploration of oil and gas in the field.
“The assessment will be focused on legal documents of the companies, technical and financial capabilities, and their drilling experiences,” he explained.
The contract initiation will take place between april 25 and june 24.
In october 2019 the Government Timor-Leste launched the county’s second licensing round, releasing a total of 18 new blocks for public tender, covering a large percentage of the total on and offshore area of the country.
Seven of the offered blocks are onshore. They cover all the northern and eastern halves of the country, a total of nearly 10.000 km2, with the largest covering the whole eastern end of the country. The remaining 11 new blocks are in the offshore area to the south of the country, in the Timor Sea, he said.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
