Guyana has opened the bidding period for 14 offshore oil and gas blocks, originally announced in November. The government anticipates awarding contracts by May 2023, after bidding closes on April 14. The awards “will follow negotiations and evaluation of the bids that we received during this bidding round,” said Guyana’s president Irfaan Ali on Facebook.
To participate in the bidding process, companies must pay a $20,000-per-block fee to access information in a virtual data room.
Of the 14 blocks, 11 are located in shallow water, three in deep water. Minimum payments will be US$10m for shallow-water blocks, $20m for deep-water blocks.
“What we are seeking to do is to have the best possible outcome for Guyana, given the lessons we have learnt,” said Ali. The government has developed a new-model production-sharing agreement that will increase its portion of income from oil produced compared with the terms the country negotiated with an Exxon-led consortium that discovered oil off Guyana’s coast in 2017.
