Nicaragua in offshore offering
Country to launch its first block offer since the late 1970s
Nicaragua expects to kick off the first post-Sandinista revolution offering of offshore exploration licences in November, and has already lined up four potential foreign bidders.
Offshore oil exploration in Nicaragua stopped in the late 1970s with the Sandinista revolution.
Last Friday, the Nicaraguan Energy Institute (INE), the Central American country's energy market regulator, invited participants in a Rio de Janeiro oil conference to participate in the upcoming acreage release, Reuters reported.
INE's oil development director Mauricio Darce was quoted by Reuters as saying: "The President is ready to announce the opening of the area at the end of November. We are receiving proposals from companies and four of them, mainly North American firms, already have bidding certificates."
A total of 100,000 square kilometres of offshore areas are up for grabs. Oil companies that have previously explored in the country include Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and Texaco with modest success.
When asked whether the forthcoming 4 November presidential election could affect the bid round, Darce responded: "There is no question here. You are all just welcome."
Sandinista leader and former President Daniel Ortega, whose leftist party ruled Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990 and fought a war with US-backed rebels, is now leading in opinion polls.
After the election, oil companies will be invited to submit their minimum exploration work commitment. The INE expects to take four months to evaluate the bids.