Seven of the nine parcels up for bids are the result of industry nomination, Murray Coolican, the Nova Scotia's deputy energy minister, said.
"There are industry nominations for land which indicates some interest, but it's always difficult," Coolican told Upstream on the sidelines of the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston on Tuesday.
"We’ll have to see, but we’re optimistic".
Coolican said that the province is currently completing additional geoscience on the prospects, which it expects to complete in the next few weeks.
