* Minister plans new hydrocarbons law in 2014
* New government reviewing some oil, mining licences
* Aims to pump oil within 10 years, export via Algeria
By Emma Farge
BAMAKO, Feb 19 (Reuters) - Mali's government plans to revise its oil law this year as it seeks new investors, with a view to pumping oil in its restive desert north in five to ten years, the mines minister said.
Following a rebellion in the north, a military coup and the occupation of the northern half of the country by Islamist militants, Mali is now seeking to restore economic growth and rebuild.
The oil sector is potentially an important source of revenue for the country's north, which lacks the south's agricultural and mining resources and has been the scene of a series of armed uprisings over the past several decades.
"We hope that within five and ten years we will produce oil. There's a new oil code that will be adopted this year," Boubou Cisse, who also oversees the country's nascent oil sector, told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.
Cisse, a 40-year-old former World Bank economist, was appointed last year by President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who won election in August ending a transitional period that followed a 2012 military coup.
Cisse announced last week that the new government is reviewing some contracts in the mining sector from previous administrations which he says were sometimes handed out in haste and in violation of Mali's laws.
The transitional period was particularly fraught with irregularities, he said.
"There were some large international companies that signed conventions for blocks several weeks or months before the end of the transition," he said.
"On some of the most interesting blocks the procedures weren't followed," he said, adding that the government was now seeking more "credible" partners.
Cisse said one such oil sector contract handed out by the transitional authorities was to investment management company New Catalyst Capital Investments (NCCI).
"It's probably one of the contracts that will be cancelled," he added.
Mali is Africa's third-biggest gold producer behind South Africa and Ghana, and it is also a major cotton producer. But it is now beginning to tap interest in its potential oil wealth, following in the footsteps of regional neighbours Chad and Niger.
Oil firms such as Algeria's Sonatrach are focusing their exploration efforts on the Taoudeni Basin, near the border of OPEC member Algeria. Italy's Eni
"The most interesting way to export would be by pipeline via Algeria, giving us access to Europe and that's why we had the partnership with Sonatrach," he added.
A French-led offensive in January 2012 drove out Islamist militants who had seized control of northern Mali. However, some fighters linked to al Qaeda are still holding out in pockets of territory in a north, a year after the offensive.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Editing by Joe Bavier)
((emma.farge@thomsonreuters.com)(+221 33 864 5077)(Reuters Messaging: emma.farge.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
Keywords: MALI OIL/
