The government of Guyana, the newest and hottest oil production spot in the world, has pushed back the deadline for receiving bids in the country's first-ever offshore licensing round by three months.
Initially, Guyana invited bids by April 14, 2023, when it launched in December last year its first licensing round for 14 offshore blocks.
In a statement to the media, Guyana's Ministry of Natural Resources said this week that the deadline for submitting the bids would be extended to July 15, 2023, in response to industry feedback and the "advanced pace of modernising the oil and gas regulatory framework."
"The Round, officially launched on December 9, 2022, continues to receive strong global interest and the government has benefited from insightful feedback during the consultation periods of the Indicative Terms and Guidelines and the draft model production sharing agreements (PSAs)," the ministry's statement reads.
The government of Guyana says it is developing a new model to "reflect the indicative terms and guidelines for the licensing round as well as introduce comprehensive provisions reflective of the developments in the oil and gas industry and international best practices observed in other jurisdictions."
Supermajors Shell and Chevron, as well as Brazil's state oil firm Petrobras, are reportedly among the 10 companies considering bidding in the licensing round.
Guyana has become a hotspot for exploration and development in recent years after Exxon and its partner Hess found more than 11 billion barrels of oil equivalent offshore the South American country.
Currently, Guyana pumps around 360,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude, all from Exxon-operated wells.
Since 2015, when it first discovered oil offshore Guyana, Exxon and Hess have made more than 20 discoveries offshore Guyana.
More recently, Hess CEO John Hess has said that Guyana is on track to be pumping 1.2 million bpd by 2027 from six FPSOs from resources discovered and under development in the Stabroek Block.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. More