| 02 Jul 2009 |
|
Deadline for oil exploration bids ends today
- Text size
AMMAN - The deadline for international and regional companies to submit bids for oil exploration blocks in the northern and central regions of the Kingdom ends today, according to the National Resource AuthorityNational Resource Authority
(NRANRA). Director Maher Hijazin. "In the oil business, these companies needed three to four months to study and evaluate [the blocks] before deciding to submit or not. We will see which ones actually submit [on Thursday]," Hijazin told The Jordan Times in a phone interview on Wednesday.
The two blocks are the Northern Highlands, a 7,454-square-kilometre area along the Kingdom's northern border with Syria, and Al Jafr block in the central region, a 19,156-square-kilometre plot east of the Jordan River.
Between 1959 and 1991, the NRANRA
, along with the firms Pauly and TotalTotal, drilled seven exploration wells in the Northern Highlands block, while Hunt Oil Company previously dug two wells in Al Jafr area in 1989, neither yielding productive oil discoveries, according to the authority.Current exploration activities include those of the PETREL firm in the eastern Safawi block and Global Petroleum in the western Safawi block in the northeast of the country, Sonoran in the Azraq block, Universal Energy in the Sirhan block to the southeast, and the Dead Sea block, currently being explored by Porosity Ltd.
Except for a 10,000-square-metre plot of land in the south running from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Kingdom's borders with Saudi Arabia, for which, according to Hijazin, there are no plans or prospects for any future activities, all areas of the country are currently slated for exploration.
The NRANRA is currently moving forward with negotiations with the Estonian company Eesti Energia for mining oil shale in Al Jafr area, along with other companies carrying out feasibility studies in the central block, which according to the authority will not affect oil exploration activities.
By Taylor Luck
© Jordan Times 2009
Zawya is a distributor (and not a publisher) of content supplied by third parties and subscribers. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers, or other information or content expressed or made available by those third parties, including information providers, subscribers or other users of the Service, are those of the respective author(s) or distributor(s) and not of the Company. The Company neither endorses nor is responsible for the accuracy or reliability of any opinion, advice or statement made on the Service by anyone other than authorized Service employee spokespersons while acting in their official capacities. The Company is not responsible for any infringement of intellectual property rights or breach of any applicable law or regulation, including regulation in relation to financial services or the distribution of financial products, defamation, data protection, telecommunications (including regulations relating to excessive use, spamming or other abusive activities) or obscene, offensive or illegal content). Under no circumstances will the Company be liable for any loss or damage caused by a member's reliance on information obtained through the Service. It is the responsibility of member to evaluate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any information, opinion, advice or other content available through the Service. Please seek the advice of professionals, as appropriate, regarding the evaluation of any specific information, opinion, advice or other content.
Read the full Member Agreement
http://www.zawya.com/legal/NewsLetter.cfm?name=disclaimer
Loading ...
Post a Comment
1.1 Contain any material which is libelous or defamatory of any person, is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory or causes damage to the reputation of any person or organisation.
1.2 Promote sexually explicit material, violence, discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age or any illegal activity.
1.3 Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.
1.4 Be threatening, abuse or invade another's privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.
1.5 Be used to impersonate any person, to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person, or be likely to deceive any person.
1.6 Give the impression that they represent Zawya.
1.7 Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.