Deadline for oil exploration bids ends today |
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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). The original closing date for submissions, which was slated for May 31, was extended due to requests from "few" international companies that had expressed interest in placing a bid, according to 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 CompanyHunt 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
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